HC Deb 24 January 1992 vol 202 cc368-72W
Rev. Martin Smyth

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement on extending the limit of war pension to be disregarded in calculating housing benefit and the community charge.

Miss Widdecombe

The statutory disregard on war widows' and war disablement pensions was doubled to £10 in April 1990. In addition, local authorities have discretion to enhance this disregard at their own expense when assessing entitlement to housing benefit and community charge benefit. There is a full statutory disregard of the special payments for pre-1973 war widows—currently £44.36 a week. We have no plans to change these arrangements.

Rev. Martin Smyth

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will list the councils which(a) operate and (b) do not operate a total disregard scheme for war pensioners for housing benefit and the community charge.

Miss Widdecombe

The information requested, as reported by local authorities in the financial year 1990–91, as listed in the following table.

Local authorities operating a total disregard scheme for both war disablement and war widows' pensions
Aberconwy Aberdeen1
Allerdale Amber Valley3
Angus1 Annandale1
Arfon Argyll-Bute1
Arun Ashfield
Ashford Badenoch1
Banff and Buchan1 Basingstoke
Bassetlaw Bearsden and Milngavie1
Berwickshire1 Birmingham
Blackpool Blaenau Gwent
Borders2 Boston
Bracknell Bradford
Braintree Brent
Brentwood Brighton
Broxbourne Broxtowe
Burnley Caithness1
Calderdale Cardiff
Carlisle Carrick
Castle Point Central3
Ceredigion Charnwood
Chelmsford Cheltenham
Cherwell Chesterfield
Chiltern Christchurch
Clackmannan1 Clydebank1
Clydesdale1 Colwyn
Congleton Copeland
Cotswold Coventry
Craven Crewe and Nantwich
Cumbernauld(DC)1 Cumbernauld (Kils.)1
Cumnock and Doon1 Cunninghame1
Dacorum Dartford
Daventry Delyn
Dumbarton1 Dumfries and Galloway2
Dundee1 Dunfermline1
Ealing East Cambridgeshire
East Devon East Dorset (Wimb.)
East Hertfordshire East Kilbride1
East Kilbride (DC)1 Eastleigh
East Lothian1 Eastwood1
East Yorkshire Eden
Edinburgh1 Ellesmere Port
Elmbridge Epping Forest
Epsom and Ewell Erewash
Ettrick and Lauderdale1 Falkirk1
Fife2 Forest Heath
Forest of Dean Gedling
Gillingham Glanford
Glasgow1 Glenrothes1
Gloucester Glyndwr
Gordon1 Gosport
Grampian2 Great Yarmouth
Guildford Hackney
Halton Hamilton1
Hammersmith Harborough
Harlow Harrow3
Hartlepool Hereford
Hertsmere Highland2
Hinckley and Bosworth Horsham
Hounslow Hove
Huntingdon Hyndburn
Inverclyde1 Inverness1
Ipswich Irving (DC)1
Isles of Scilly Islington
Islwyn Kennet
Kensington and Chelsea Kilmarnock1
Kincardine and Deeside1 Kingswood
Kirklees Kyle and Carrick1
Lambeth Lancaster
Leicester Lewes
Lewisham3 Lichfield
Liverpool Livingston (DC)1
Llanelli Lochaber1
Lothian2 Luton
Macclesfield Maidstone
Maldon Mansfield
Medina Melton
Mendip Merton
Mid Bedfordshire Midlothian1
Mid Suffolk Mid Sussex
Milton Keynes Mole Valley
Monklands1 Mongomery
Moray Motherwell1
Nairn1 Neath
Newark Newbury
Newcastle-under-Lyme Nithsdale1
Northampton Northavon
North Bedfordshire North Cornwall
North East Derby North East Fife1
North Hertfordshire North Kesteven
North Shropshire3 North Tyneside
North Warwickshire North West Leicester
North Wiltshire Nottingham
Nuneaton Ogwr
Orkney Perth and Kinross1
Peterborough Purbeck
Radnor Redbridge
Redditch Reigate and Banstead
Renfrew1 Rhuddlan
Richmondshire Richmond-upon-Thames
Rochester on Medway Rochford
Ross and Cromarty1 Rossendale3
Rother Roxburgh1
Rugby Rushcliffe
Rushmoor Rutland
Salford Sandwell
Scottish Homes1 Scunthorpe
Sedgefield Sefton
Selby Sevenoaks
Shetland Skye and Lochalsh1
Slough Solihull
South Bedfordshire South Bucks
South Cambridgeshire South Derbyshire
Southend on Sea South Holland
South Kesteven4 South Lakeland
South Northants South Oxfordshire
South Ribble South Shropshire
South Staffordshire South Tyneside
Southwark South Wight
Spelthorne Staffs. Moorland
St. Albans Sterwartry1
St. Helens Stirling1
Stockport Stoke on Trent
Stratford on Avon Strathkelvin1
Stroud Suffolk Coastal
Sutherland1 Sutton
Swale Tameside
Tamworth Tandridge
Tayside2 Tendring
Test Valley Tewesbury
Thanet The Wrekin
Three Rivers Tower Hamlets
Trafford Tweeddale1
Vale of White Horse Wakefield
Walsall Waltham Forest
Wandsworth Wansbeck
Wansdyke Watford
Waverley Wellingborough4
Western Isles West Lothian1
Westminster West Oxfordshire
West Wiltshire Wigtown1
Winchester Windsor and Maidenhead
Wirral Wokingham
Wolverhampton Woodspring
Worthing Wycombe
Local authorities operating a total disregard scheme for war disablement pensions only
Bath Blaby
Blackburn Bolton
Bromley Bury
Cambridge Corby
Doncaster Dudley
East Staffordshire Exeter
Grimsby Hambleton
Havering Middlesbrough
Newport Oldham
Ribble Valley Southampton
South Somerset Stevenage
Stockton on Tees Torbay
Torfaen Tunbridge Wells
Vale Royal York
Local authorities operating a total disregard scheme for war widows' pensions only
Castle Morpeth
Chester
Kirkaldy1
Monmouth
Thurrock
Local authorities not operating a total disregard scheme for war disablement and war widows' pensions
Adur Alnwick
Alyn and Deeside Aylesbury Vale
Babergh Barking
Barnet Barnsley
Barrow in Furness Basildon
Basildon (DC)1 Berwick-upon-Tweed
Beverley Bexley
Blyth Valley Bolsover
Boothferry Bournemouth
Breckland Brecknock
Bridgnorth Bristol
Broadland Bromsgrove
Camden Cannock Chase
Canterbury Caradon
Carmarthen Chester le Street
Chichester Chorley
City of London Cleethorpes
Colchester Corby New Town1
Crawley Croydon
Cynon Valley Darlington
Derby Derbyshire Dales
Derwentside Dinefwr
Dover Durham
Dwyfor Easington
Eastbourne East Hampshire
East Lindsey East Northampton
Enfleld Fareham
Fenland Fylde
Gateshead Gravesham
Greenwich Haringey
Harrogate Hart
Hastings Havant
High Peak Hillingdon
Holderness Kerrier
Kettering Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Thames Knowsley
Langbaurgh Leeds
Leominster Lincoln
Lliw Valley Malvern Hills
Manchester Meirionnydd
Merthyr Tydfil Mid Devon
Newcastle upon Tyne New Forest
Newham North Devon
North Dorset North Norfolk
Norwich Oadby and Wigston
Oswestry Oxford
Pendle Penwith
Plymouth Poole
Portsmouth Port Talbot
Preseli Preston
Reading Restormel
Rhondda Rhymney Valley
Rochdale Rotherham
Runnymede Rural Wales1
Ryedale Salisbury
Scarborough Sedgemoor
Sheffield Shepway
Shrewsbury and Atcham South Hams
South Herefordshire South Norfolk
South Pembrokeshire Stafford
St. Edmundsbury Strathclyde2
Sunderland Surrey Heath
Swansea Taff-Ely
Taunton Deane Teesdale
Teignbridge Telford1
Thamesdown Tonbridge and Mailing
Torridge Tynedale
Uttlesford Vale of Glamorgan
Warrington Warrington (DC)1
Warwick Waveney
Wealden Wear Valley
Welwyn Hatfield West Devon
West Dorset West Lancashire
West Lindsey West Norfolk
West Somerset Weymouth and Portland
Wigan Woking
Worcester Wrexham Maelor
Wychavon Wyre
Wyre Forest Ynys Mon
1 Denotes those authorities responsible for housing benefit only.
2 Denotes those authorities responsible for community charge benefit only.
3 Denotes those authorities responsible for both benefits but who operate a scheme for housing benefit only.
4 Denotes those authorities responsible for both benefits but who operate a scheme for community charge benefit only.