§ Mr. Ieuan Wyn JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he intends to place an upper limit on housing benefit in respect of rents.
§ Mr. PortilloI refer the hon. Member to the consultation paper (a copy of which is in the Library) issued jointly by the Department and the Department of the Environment in October 1987 on the housing benefit 445W implications of the Government's proposals for deregulation of new private sector lettings. This paper proposes a number of measures to ensure that, with an increasing proportion of rents in future not subject to statutory rent control, rents which attract support from the Exchequer through housing benefit are not unreasonable. These measures include the setting of limits on benefit to be awarded on the most expensive privately rented properties in each local authority area. The intention is to prevent abuse and only a small proportion of accommodation in any area is likely to be covered by this arrangement.