§ Mr. LoveTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many benefit claimants received a social fund(a) grant or (b) loan in each of the last five years in (i) Greater London, (ii) Leaside district and 802W (iii) Edmonton constituency; what was the total amount of (A) grant and (B) loan in (i), (ii), and (iii); and if he will make a statement. [98056]
§ Angela EagleThe administration of the Social Fund is a matter for Peter Mathison, the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to my hon. Friend.
Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Andrew Love, dated 10 November 1999:
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked Peter Mathison to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many benefit claimants received a social fund (a) grant or (b) loan in each of the last five years in (i) Greater London, (ii) Leaside district and (iii) Edmonton constituency; and what was the total amount of (A) grant and (B) loan in (i), (ii), (iii). As Mr. Mathison is currently on leave I am replying.Although the Benefits Agency (BA) does not collate information in exactly the format you have requested, the figures available are included in the attached appendix.The number of loans and grants awarded does not correspond to individual benefit customers, as some will have received an award more than once. We do not have information on the latter.Data is held at district office level. BA districts do not correspond to the boroughs within Greater London. In order to answer your question, the following BA districts have been used:Barking and Havering, Ealing, Bankside, Euston, Neasden, Newham, Thames Valley, South Circular, City East, Barnet, Leaside, Thameside, Palace, Hackney, Harrow & Hillingdon, SW ThamesLeaside district consists of Edmonton, Tottenham and Wood Green offices. Information at a sub-district or constituency level is not available and therefore, I am unable to provide information on the Edmonton area in isolation.I hope this is helpful.Appendix
Table 1: Number of loans and grants in Greater London Financial year Loans Grants 1995–96 195,252 30,410 1996–97 187,042 27,865 1997–98 192,742 26,907 1998–99 195,376 27,576 1999–20001 119,700 15,916
Table 2: Total amount spent on loans and grants in Greater London £ Financial year Loans Grants 1995–96 41,637,468.90 12,015,099.65 1996–97 47,755,587.86 12,116,068.11 1997–98 54,245,234.66 12,565,912.12 1998–99 57,774,958.38 12,825,380.17 1999–20001 36,496,136.56 7,516,206.48
803W
Table 3: Number of loans and grants awards in Leaside BA district Financial year loans grants 1995–96 10,800 1,572 1996–97 11,448 1,584 1997–98 13,322 1,495 1998–99 13,595 1,683 1999–20001 7,722 850
Table 4: Total amount spent on loans and grants in Leaside BA district £ Financial year Loans Grants 1995–96 3,173,645.26 629,846.43 1996–97 3,629,703.96 628,870.05 1997–98 4,050,184.48 633,391.42 1998–99 4,035,156.27 661,875.32 1999–20001 2,841,128.38 358,111.86 1 Figures for 1999–2000 cover the period from April to October 1999