§ Baroness Jegerasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the total amount of housing benefit which finds its way to proprietors of bed and breakfast lodgings and other temporary accommodation; and whether they have plans to reduce this amount without hardship to homeless applicants.
§ Baroness TrumpingtonLocal authorities have statutory responsibility for administering the housing benefit scheme and are thus required to determine how much standard housing benefit is payable to meet the lodging charges of claimants who are in bed and breakfast and other temporary accommodation, and1012WA to deal with any cases of hardship. Information is not available centrally on the total amount of standard housing benefit which is awarded by authorities to meet the cost of these charges.