Social Fund Loans (Hansard, 16 July 1996)

§ Mr. Roger Evans

The administration of the social fund is a matter for Peter Mathison, chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.

507W

Letter from Peter Mathison to Mrs. Gwyneth Dunwoody, dated 15 July 1996: The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking if he will list the number of applicants for Social Fund loans in (a) Crewe and Nantwich and (b) Cheshire for each of the last five years. The information is not available in the format requested. With the creation of the Benefits Agency (BA) in April 1991, former departmental local offices were grouped into Districts. Statistical data for SF loans is only collected at District level, the boundaries of which are not the same. Therefore, the information is not available exclusively for Crewe, Nantwich or Cheshire. Crewe and Nantwich form part of South Cheshire District, which also has offices at Chester, Ellesmere Port and Northwich. The attached Annex gives information for this District and also for the Districts of Sale & East Cheshire, North Cheshire, Stockport and Tameside which between them cover the rest of the Cheshire area. I hope you find this reply helpful.

Annex: Loan applications for period 1991–92 to 1995–96
District	1991–92	1992–93	1993–94	1994–95	1995–96
North Cheshire	14,511	17,200	18,725	20,968	21,526
Sale and East Cheshire	5,699	7,250	7,826	8,900	10,534
South Cheshire	17,633	20,215	21,758	19,913	19,006
Stockport	9,906	11,201	12,954	11,591	11,236
Tameside	10,085	12,486	12,618	13,201	13,041

Figures are provisional and subject to change. Sale and East Cheshire District has offices at Sale, Macclesfield and Wilmslow; North Cheshire District has offices at Warrington and Widnes; Stockport District has offices at Stockport and Buxton; and Tameside District has offices at Hyde and Ashton under Lyne.