§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what assessment he has made of the effect on tenants of his Department's proposal to restrict the backdating of housing benefit to three months; and if he will make a statement; [137049]
615W(2) what assessment he has made to the effect of administrative delays on housing benefit awards backdated for more than three months in each of the last three years for which data are available; and if he will make a statement; [137053]
(3) what representations he has received on his Department's proposal to reduce the backdating of housing benefit from 12 months to three months from April 2001; and if he will make a statement; [137047]
(4) what estimate he has made of the total number of people who will be affected by his Department's proposal to restrict the backdating of housing benefit to three months; and how many of those people are (a) of pensionable age, (b) lone parents, (c) disabled and (d) working but still entitled to claim housing benefit; [137048]
(5) what estimate he has made of the cost of his Department's proposal to change the arrangements for the payment of subsidies to local authorities to cover the backdating of housing benefit; [137051]
(6) what estimate he has made of the savings to (a) his Department and (b) local authorities of his Department's proposal to restrict the backdating of housing benefit to three months; [137050]
(7) what assessment he has made of the reasons why claimants have had housing benefit awards backdated for more than three months in each of the last three years for which records have been kept; and if he will make a statement; [137052]
(8) what assessment he has made of the effect of inadequate advice given by statutory agencies resulting in claimants making successful claims to have their housing benefit backdated for over three months in each of the last three years for which data are available; and if he will make a statement. [137054]
§ Mr. WebbTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what assessment he has made of the effect on(a) rent arrears and (b) homelessness of the Department of Social Security's proposal to restrict the backdating of Housing Benefit to three months from April 2001; and if he will make a statement. [137056]
§ Angela EagleIt is not possible to provide reliable estimates of the effects of the proposal to align the Housing Benefit/Council Tax Benefit backdating rules with those of the other income-related benefits. In terms of benefit expenditure, we have estimated that these changes would be broadly cost-neutral because of the interplay between the proposed tighter prescription and the proposed increase in subsidy paid to local authorities.
These proposals have now been considered by the Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC), and we have received their report to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State. We have also received the Local Authority Associations (LAAs) responses to our consultation exercise on these proposals. We are considering the responses from the LAA consultation and points raised in SSAC's report very carefully and will make an announcement shortly.