§ Mr. FlanneryTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether he will adjust the weighting of student private sector rent allowance claims from April 1990 onwards to ensure that the level of administrative subsidy in respect of such cases continues to reflect their complexity and difficulty.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe arrangements for allocating housing benefit administration costs subsidy to local authorities for 1990–91 will be the subject of discussions 413W between the Department and the local authority associations during 1989. No final decisions have yet been taken but it has been agreed with the associations that the weighting given to student cases should be reviewed as part of those discussions.
§ Mr. FlanneryTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security whether local education authorities will be reimbursed for the full cost of developing and implementing the liaison arrangements with the rent officer when students put in a claim for housing benefit comprising a claim for rent allowances only.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe Government have made £1 million available to local authorities for their costs in preparing for the new rent officer arrangements from April 1989 and conducting pilot schemes. In addition, the overall level of provision for local authorities' housing benefit administration costs in 1989–90 has been increased by 1 per cent. to take account of the new arrangements. It is for each local authority to decide how best to allocate the resources available to it for the rent officer arrangements and no separate allocations has been made for claims from students.