Housing Benefit (Hansard, 31 July 1997)

§ Mr. Pond
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if she will estimate the gross and net cost of changing the assessment of housing benefit to a fixed six-monthly assessment in the manner of family credit. [12196]

§ Mr. Keith Bradley
The information requested is not available.
Housing benefit is being reviewed as part of a joint housing review with my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister. In addition Mr. Martin Taylor has been asked by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer to examine the interaction of the tax and benefits systems so that they can be streamlined and modernised, so as to fulfil our objectives of promoting work incentives, reducing poverty and welfare dependency and strengthening family and community life.

§ Mr. Webb
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what plans she has to support new housing benefit claimants whose rent includes an element for social care costs, following the recent court judgment indicating that such costs are not covered by the housing benefit system. [11613]

§ Mr. Keith Bradley
Following the recent court judgment on the scope of housing benefit my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State announced, on the same day, a package of interim measures designed toContinue the vast majority of Housing benefit expenditure on support services in existing housing provision; and introduce a compensation scheme to protect the position of claimants in existing supported housing by compensating landlords whose tenants lose income as a result of the changes.
We are consulting the Social Security Advisory Committee and local authority associations on draft legislation to enable housing benefit, which is designed to meet housing costs rather than to make general social provision for the protection of vulnerable people in their homes, to meet the majority of charges for general support services in supported accommodation. We hope to legislate as soon as possible.
These measures will apply to current and future tenants of existing supported housing. They will last until we develop and implement a coherent and rational long-term funding arrangement for supported housing.