§ Mr. FabricantTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what the 1993–94 gross budget for the discretionary part of the social fund will be.
§ Mr. ScottI am pleased to announce that the social fund gross discretionary budget for 1993–94 will be £346 million. £95 million will be allocated to grants, £250 million to loans and £1 million will be held as a contingency reserve. The new allocations represent an overall increase of £44 million—nearly 15 per cent—over the gross budget at April 1992.
The social fund continues to provide valuable help to large number of people. Between April 1992 and January 1993 almost 1.5 million non-repayable grants and interest-free loans were made. This is nearly 200,000 more than during the same period last year—an increase of 14 per cent. the increase from April will allow even more people to be helped. Details of the allocations for individual districts will be announced shortly.