§ Lord Harris of Greenwichasked Her Majesty's Government:
What monitoring has been carried out of the impact of changes in housing benefit regulations in April 1995 on the housing prospects of released prisoners, and what are the results of each monitoring.
Lord LucasNew rules concerning the treatment of temporary absence from the home were introduced in Housing Benefit from April 1995. Questions relating to these changes were asked of local authorities in respect of the year ending 31st March 1996. Information about the number of prisoners affected by the new rules will be available around the end of 1996.
No specific enquiries have been made into the housing prospects of released prisoners. However, housing benefit is available to released prisoners in the normal way.