§ Mr. AmessTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security when he will publish the social fund budget allocations for individual district offices, following the social fund discretionary loans budget announced on 18 January.
§ Mr. ScottToday a list of the new social fund budget allocations for district offices has been placed in the Library.
As a result of increases in the discretionary social fund loans budget for this financial year, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State has changed two of the Benefits Agency's published targets for 1992–93. The revised targets are:
- (i) to keep to the gross allocation for social fund loans and grants of £317 million.
- (ii) recovery of Social Fund loans—£187 million.
The new loan recovery target represents the higher level of recoveries which the Benefits Agency is expected to achieve as a result of the increased gross allocation for loans. We do not propose to increase the rate of recovery from individual customers or change their repayment arrangements.