§ Ms. ShortTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he intends to amend the housing benefit regulations to allow those who participate in the adult training scheme to continue to receive housing benefit at the same level as they received before entering the scheme.
§ Mr. PortilloYes. In accordance with the assurance in paragraph 5.30 of the White Paper "Training for Employment" (Cm 316), we propose to take the necessary steps to ensure that all trainees' entitlement to housing benefit is unaffected by joining the new adult training programme. We arc consulting the local authority associations at the moment over a suitable amendment to the Housing Benefit (General) Regulations.