§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) whether there have been any demands on the social fund contingency reserves following the series of transport disasters; and if there is a fixed sum set aside;
(2) how much has been paid out in social fund crisis loans by the Department of Social Security offices covering the Lockerbie area following the air crash and in Inverness following the recent floods; and if any other Department of Social Security offices have call on this contingency fund.
§ Mr. Peter LloydThe local office which serves the Lockerbie area is Dumfries. To date no applications to the social fund have been received as a result of the air crash.
The local office at Inverness has received four applications to the social fund in respect of the recent flooding in Inverness. These applications resulted in three awards of community care grants totalling £1,571 and one award of a budgeting loan of £260.52. There were no applications for crisis loans.
A contingency reserve of £2 million is held centrally and is primarily intended to meet additional and unforeseen expenditure arising from disasters and emergencies which individual local offices cannot meet. There are no specific sums set aside within this reserve. To date there have been no applications for additional amounts from the contingency reserve.