§ Mr. ThurnhamTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what assessment he has made of(a) the consistency of performance by local authorities in the administration of housing benefit and (b) the effect on this performance of the publication of a league table of performance indicators; and if he will make it his policy that league tables of local authority performance should be published.
§ Mr. Roger EvansI am aware that levels of performance by local authorities in the administration of Housing Benefit vary and am currently considering the impact on performance that the publication of national league tables could have. However, in accordance with the citizens charter, every local authority is required to publish information about the level of its own housing and council tax benefit performance by 31 December. I understand that the Audit Commission intends to publish all of this information early next year.