Housing Benefit (Hansard, 17 March 2000)

§ Mr. Neil Turner
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what was the amount of housing benefit paid by each local authority in respect of local authority rented housing in the years(a) 1995–96, (b) 1996–97, (c) 1997–98, (d) 1998–99 and (e) 1999–2000; and if he will indicate the average number of recipients for each authority. [113843]

§ Angela Eagle
The information is in the Library.

§ Mr. Field
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 9 March 2000,Official Report, column 806W, if he will list the local authorities that did not volunteer to participate in (a) the Area Benefit Review of Housing Benefit and (b) the last Housing Benefit Review. [115210]

§ Angela Eagle
In the summer of 1997 all local authorities in Great Britain were invited to volunteer to participate in the second National Housing Benefit Review for which a representative sample of authorities was needed.
348W
In the spring of 1999 the Department invited all local authorities in Great Britain to participate in a project to incorporate Housing Benefit paid with Income Support or Jobseeker's Allowance (Income Based) into the Benefits Agency's Area Benefit Review programme.
In seeking volunteers for both exercises, the Department made clear to local authorities the level of commitment required. In the case of the national review, this involved diverting anti-fraud resources from mainstream anti-fraud activity for a period of approximately two months. In the case of the area benefit review, a continuing requirement to divert benefit processing resources from mainstream activity and to meet tight deadlines was involved. It was left to local authorities whether they would be able to make this commitment without jeopardising anti-fraud work or service delivery.
The list of local authorities who did not volunteer to participate in the second National Housing Benefit Review or the Area Benefit Review project has been placed in the Library.