HC Deb 26 March 1990 vol 170 cc80-1W
Mr. Meacher

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will give calculations used to determine the student deduction as applied to student housing benefit claims; whether the student deduction as applied to student housing benefit claims is related to any index of housing costs; and what is the amount he intends to uprate the student deduction by for the 1990–91 academic year.

Mrs. Gillian Shephard

The amount of the rent deduction applied to student housing benefit claims is determined on the basis of figures provided by the Department of Education and Science. The level of the rent deduction for the 1990–91 academic year will be determined on the same basis and will be known shortly.

Mr. Meacher

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will state his reasons(a) for removing student entitlement to housing benefit and (b) for removing student entitlement to income support during periods of unemployment.

Mrs. Gillian Shephard

The Government believe that full-time students should be supported by the educational maintenance system and not by social security benefits. Access to benefits by students has been an unplanned product of social security changes over the last two decades, creating a disproportionate administrative burden on local offices and local authorities. The proposed new student loans and access funds will provide additional forms of support making it unnecessary for the majority of full-time students to have access to housing benefit and income support.

Additionally, we believe that it is inappropriate to treat students as unemployed when they are following a full-time course of study. Benefits for the unemployed are intended to provide financial support for people who are normally reliant on earnings when they face the unforeseen contingency of unemployment. Periods of study, and vacations between periods of study, cannot be classed as days of unemployment in the same way.

Mr. Meacher

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is(a) the total value and average weekly payment of housing benefit currently being claimed by claimants aged 18 to 24 years, (b) the total value of housing benefit paid to students in the academic year 1988–89 in each region of the country and (c) the projected number of claims for housing benefits, their total value and the average size of weekly claim in 1990 in each region of the country.

Mrs. Gillian Shephard

Information is not available in the detail requested. The average weekly amount of housing benefit for claimants aged 18 to 24, who were not also in receipt of income support, was £11.70 in May 1988. Similar information for claimants receiving both income support and housing benefit is not held. Housing benefit spending on claimants who are aged 18 to 24 is not identifiable within total expenditure.

Information on housing benefit paid to students is not available in the form requested and I refer the hon. Member to my reply to him on 5 March at column 535.

Spending plans and caseload estimates are on a Great Britain basis and for 1990–91 it is estimated that £4.6 billion in housing benefit will go to 4.2 million households. Average weekly amounts are not projected and deriving such amounts from the expenditure and caseload estimates does not produce a representative result.