§ Mr. BattleTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if his Department will publish a table of past housing benefit expenditure for each financial year since 1980 and projected housing benefit expenditure, indicating clearly the projected impact on rents of the current Housing Bill.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe available information is shown in the table. Revised figures for 1988–89 will be published early in the new year along with projected figures for later years.
331W
Housing benefit expenditure 1980–81 to 1988–89 £ million 1980–81 632 1981–82 921 1982–83 1,563 1983–84 3,736 1984–85 4,193 1985–86 4,639
£ million 1986–87 5,018 1987–88 5,380 1988–89 5,260 Source: Public Expenditure White Paper.
Notes:
Before 1982–83 assistance with housing costs was through the supplementary benefit scheme administered by the Department and the rent and rate rebate and allowance schemes run by the Department of the Environment. Housing benefit from the Department was introduced for some supplementary benefit claimants from November 1982 with full implementation for all claimants following from April 1983. The data for the years prior to 1982–83 are based upon the Department of the Environment scheme only. The data for 1982–83 combine information from both the old and new schemes.