§ Mrs. Chalkerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will ensure that the Supplementary Benefits Commission review extends to discretionary allowances paid by local authority social services departments;
(2) if the Supplementary Benefits Commission review of benefits extends to discretionary allowances paid by local authority social services departments.
§ Mr. OrmeThe review, which I am undertaking in close consultation with the Supplementary Benefits Commission, has as its primary focus the supplementary benefits scheme itself. But one of the issues for the review, as identified in the commission's annual report 1975, is the interaction between discretionary payments made by the commission and those made by local authority social service and social work departments.
§ Mrs. Chalkerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services to what type of purchases local authority social services departments may make discretionary 663W needs grants; and what guidance he has issued on the quality of goods for which families are issued with grants.
§ Mr. OrmeI assume that the hon. Member is referring to the provisions of Section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act, 1963 under which a local authority social services department may, if it thinks fit, give assistance in kind or, in exceptional circumstances, in cash when carrying out its duty to make available such advice, guidance and assistance as may promote the welfare of children by diminishing the need to receive children into or keep them in care, or to bring them before a juvenile court. The purposes for which any grants are given under this provision, and the quality of goods for which a grant is made, are entirely matters for local authority discretion in the light of individual circumstances. Guidance on the quality of goods has not been issued and would be inappropriate.
§ Mrs. Chalkerasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he is satisfied with the division of responsibility for cash payments for special needs between social security offices and local authority social services.
§ Mr. OrmeYes. The responsibilities of social security offices and local authority social services departments are quite distinct. The Supplementary Benefits Commission has powers to meet exceptional needs with cash payments. Social services departments have no general statutory powers to make cash payments for exceptional needs. Only in the case of child care is there a clear statutory provision—under Section 1 of the Children and Young Persons Act 1963—to allow assistance to be given in the form of cash payments, and Section 1 powers are used only to make cash payments to clients as a means of diminishing the need to receive children into or keep them in care.