§ Mr. LepperTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 23 March 2001,Official Report, column 370W on single room rent, what representations he has received concerning the impact of the single room rent in Brighton and Hove; what assessment he has undertaken of the likely impact of the proposed new young person's rent regulations in Brighton 484W and Hove; and what consideration was given in drafting the proposed new young person's rent regulations to the submission sent to him by the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavillion on behalf of various agencies in Brighton and Hove. [156647]
§ Angela EagleI am aware of my hon. Friend's representations on behalf of Brighton and Hove to the effect that the current rules were too restrictive and that they should be eased. We gave full consideration to these representations as we did to others. The new rules from July this year are therefore designed to reflect better what the market generally has to offer on a national basis. Moreover, local authorities will have the discretion to provide additional support in individual cases under the new arrangements for Discretionary Housing Payments, which will also apply from July. We are considering how best to monitor their operation.
Our objectives for the single room rent are to ensure that young people have access to accommodation so that they can concentrate on finding work, balanced against our aim of making sure that the benefit system does not provide out of work young adults with better housing than their working peers could afford. We made these objectives clear, including the option of broadening the definition of the single room rent, in our Housing Green Paper "Quality and Choice: A decent home for all" on which we consulted widely.
§ Ms BuckTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security, pursuant to his answer of 23 March 2001,Official Report, column 370W, how many organisations commented in response to the proposals in the Government's Housing Green Paper, "Quality and Choice: A decent home for all", on the single room rent; how many of these responses (a) supported abolition, (b) favoured abolition in preference to a broadening of the definition, (c) supported broadening the definition and (d) supported no change to the current definition; and if he will place these responses in the Library. [156714]
§ Angela EagleTwo hundred and five respondents commented on the proposals to broaden the single room rent (SRR) set out in the Housing Green Paper. Information on the views of the respondents is not available in the format requested. However, a detailed analysis of all responses to the Housing Green Paper proposals was carried out by independent consultants. This analysis is available on the Internet at www.housing.detr.gov.uk/information/consult/responses/analysis/index.htm and a copy has been placed in the Library.