§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) how many representations he has received from war pensioners or war pensioners' organisations on the reduction of the full war pension disregard for housing benefit to £5 from April 1988;
(2) if he will list the local authorities which have abandoned or modified discretionary housing benefit enchancements for war pensioners after the withdrawal of a full disregard in April 1988; and if he will estimate the number of war pensioners affected by such abandonments or modifications;
(3) if he will estimate the total savings made as a result of disregarding £5 of each war pension for housing benefit purposes after April 1988 rather than the total amount as before;
(4) if he will list the local authorities who exercised a discretionary scheme to pay housing benefit at a higher rate to war pensioners prior to April 1988; and what is the number of war pensioners benefiting from such schemes.
§ Mr. Peter LloydPrior to April 1988 the first £4 of a war pension was disregarded in housing benefit but local authorities had discretion to enhance the scheme—for example by disregarding war pensions or other income in full—at their own cost. The local authorities which operated such schemes are listed at A. From April 1988 discretionary local schemes other than variation of the disregard for war pensions were abolished and the statutory war pension disregard was increased to £5. Although local authorities retain the discretion to disregard war pensions in full at their own cost some chose to abandon or modify their local scheme in April 1988, as listed at B.
I regret that information on the numbers affected by local schemes is not available.
A. Local authorities who operated a local scheme for war pensioners prior to April 1988
304W
A. Local authorities who operated a local scheme for war pensioners prior to April 1988 Aberdeen Annandale and Eskdale Adur Argyll and Bute Amber Valley Aylesbury Vale Angus Banff and Buchan 305W
Barking and Dagenham Bromley Barnet Broxbourne Basingstoke Broxtowe Bearsden and Milngavie Burnley Berwickshire Bury Bexley Caithness Birmingham Calderdale Blaby Cambridge Blackburn Camden Blackpool Cardiff Boothferry Carlisle Borders Castle Point Boston Central Regional Council Bournemouth (Scotland) Bracknell Ceredigion Bradford Charnwood Braintree Chelmsford Breckland Cheltenham Brecknock Chester Brent Chesterfield Brentwood Chiltern Brighton Chorley Durham Christchurch Dwyfor Clackmannan Ealing Clydebank East Cambridgeshire Clydesdale East Devon Corby East Hampshire Coventry East Kilbride Craven East Kilbride Development Crawley Corporation Crewe and Nantwich East Lothian Cumbernauld East Staffordshire Cumbernauld and Kilsyth Eastleigh District Council Eastwood Cumnock and Doon Edinburgh Cunninghame Ellesmere Port Dacorum Elmbridge Darlington Enfield Daventry Epsom and Ewell Delyn Ettrick and Lauderdale Derby Exeter Doncaster Falkirk Dover Fenland Dudley Fife Dumbarton Forest of Dean Dundee Gedling Dunfermline Glasgow Glenrothes DC Huntingdon Gloucester Inverclyde Gordon Inverness Gosport Islington Great Yarmouth Kennet Guildford Kilmarnock and Loudoun Hackney Kincardine and Deeside Hambleton Kingston-upon-Thames Hamilton Kingswood Hammersmith Kirkcaldy Harborough Kirklees Haringey Knowsley Harlow Kyle and Carrick Harrow Lambeth Hart Langbaurgh Hartlepool Leicester Havant Lewes Havering Lewisham Hereford Lincoln Hertsmere Livingston Development High Peak Corp Highland Lliw Valley Hillingdon Lochaber Hinckley and Bosworth Lothian Horsham Luton Hounslow Macclesfield Merton Maidstone Mid Bedfordshire Maldon Mid Devon Medina Middlesbrough Meirionnydd Midlothian Mendip Milton Keynes
Mole Valley North Tyneside Monklands North West Leicester Montgomery North Wiltshire Moray Northampton Motherwell Nottingham Nairn Nuneaton and Bedworth Neath Oadby and Wigston New Forest Ogwr Newbury Oldham Newham Orkney Newport Penwith Nithsdale Perth and Kinross North Bedfordshire Peterborough North Cornwall Plymouth North Dorset Poole North East Fife Port Talbot North Hertfordshire Portsmouth North Kesteven Radnor North Shropshire Redditch Reigate and Banstead Slough Renfrew Solihull Rhondda South Bucks Rhuddlan South Cambridgeshire Ribble Valley South Herefordshire Richmond upon Thames South Holland Richmondshire South Lakeland Ross and Cromarty South Northampton Rossendale South Ribble Rother South Staffordshire Roxburgh South Tyneside Rugby South Wight Runnymede Southampton Rushcliffe Southend on Sea Ryedale Southwark Salford Spelthorne Sandwell St. Helens Scarborough Staffs. Moorlands Scottish Special HA Stevenage Sedgefield Stewartry Sefton Stirling Selby Stockton on Tees Shepway Stratford on Avon Shetland Strathclyde Skye and Lochalsh Strathkelvin Surrey Heath Watford Sutherland Waverley Sutton Wealdon Swale Welwyn Hatfield Swansea West Derbyshire Tameside West Lothian Tandridge West Norfolk Tayside West Somerset Tendring West Wiltshire Test Valley Western Isles Tewkesbury Westminster Thamesdown Weymouth and Portland Three Rivers Wigan Thurrock Wigtown Tonbridge and Mailing Wimborne Tower Hamlets Winchester Tunbridge Wells Windsor and Maidenhead Tweeddale Wirral Vale of Glamorgan Woking Vale of White Horse Wolverhampton Vale Royal Woodspring Wakefield Worthing Walsall Wycombe Waltham Forest York Wandsworth 306W
B. Local authorities who abandoned or modified their local scheme for war pensioners in April 1988 Barking and Dagenham Mid Devon Barnet Nuneaton and Bedworth Bexley Portsmouth Boothferry South Bucks Bournemouth South Herefordshire Brecknock Swansea Fenland Thamesdown Havant West Norfolk Lliw Valley Weymouth and Portland Source: 1988 returns from 476 of the 483 local authorities in Great Britain.