§ Mrs. WiseTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) if he has issued any additional guidance to his Department's offices in relation to making income support available to under 18-year-olds in view of the exceptionally cold weather;
(2) what monitoring he is undertaking of the number of applications made, and applications granted, for income support for under 18-year-olds due to severe hardship in the current exceptionally cold weather; and what figures he has collected.
§ Mr. JackAll claims to income support from young people under 18 years of age which are not successful under normal rules are automatically referred for sympathetic consideration under the severe hardship provisions. All such claimants are automatically interviewed by staff who have been trained to recognise the needs of these particularly vulnerable young people. No further guidance was, therefore, necessary to cater for the exceptionally cold weather.
During the week commencing 4 February, 866 claims to income support were received from young people and directions for payment were made in 647 (75 per cent.) of them.