§ Mr. McQuarrieasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how much has been paid by his Department for rented accommodation for young persons in Scotland in the years 1984, 1985 and the latest available figures for 1986;
(2) what guidelines are issued to his Department's officials in Scotland in relation to the payment of rent to landlords for rooms tenanted by young persons;
(3) what checks are carried out by his Department's officials in Scotland when paying rent on behalf of young persons regarding the standard of declaration, the amount and condition of the furnishings and the availability of bathroom and toilet facilities; and whether regular checks are made on the properties for which rent is being paid;
(4) if he will conduct an investigation into allegations of overcharging by landlords for rooms tenanted by young unemployed persons whose rent is paid by his Department's offices in Scotland; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. LyellNo information is available centrally on the amount of housing benefit paid to young people in Scotland for rented accommodation.
Help with rent is provided through the housing benefit scheme which is administered by local authorities. Authorities can restrict the amount of rent eligible for benefit in certain circumstances if they consider that the rent is unreasonably high.
Advice to local authorities on the use of their power to restrict benefit on unreasonably high rents is included in a guidance manual on housing benefits administration issued by the Department (a copy is in the Library), but it is for the responsible authority to decide what checks should be carried out to enable it to decide whether a restriction should be applied. We plan to strengthen local authorities' powers to prevent abuse of the revised housing benefit scheme from April 1988.
We have no plans to conduct an investigation into allegations of overcharging by landlords in Scotland for rooms tenanted by young people in receipt of housing benefit, but I hope that any specific evidence of abuse will be passed to the relevant local authority.