HC Deb 11 November 1999 vol 337 cc801-3W
Mr. Love

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many benefit claimants received a social fund(a) grant or (b) loan in each of the last five years in (i) Greater London, (ii) Leaside district and (iii) Edmonton constituency; what was the total amount of (A) grant and (B) loan in (i), (ii), and (iii); and if he will make a statement. [98056]

Angela Eagle

The administration of the Social Fund is a matter for Peter Mathison, the Chief Executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to my hon. Friend.

Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Andrew Love, dated 10 November 1999: The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked Peter Mathison to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking how many benefit claimants received a social fund (a) grant or (b) loan in each of the last five years in (i) Greater London, (ii) Leaside district and (iii) Edmonton constituency; and what was the total amount of (A) grant and (B) loan in (i), (ii), (iii). As Mr. Mathison is currently on leave I am replying. Although the Benefits Agency (BA) does not collate information in exactly the format you have requested, the figures available are included in the attached appendix. The number of loans and grants awarded does not correspond to individual benefit customers, as some will have received an award more than once. We do not have information on the latter. Data is held at district office level. BA districts do not correspond to the boroughs within Greater London. In order to answer your question, the following BA districts have been used: Barking and Havering, Ealing, Bankside, Euston, Neasden, Newham, Thames Valley, South Circular, City East, Barnet, Leaside, Thameside, Palace, Hackney, Harrow & Hillingdon, SW Thames Leaside district consists of Edmonton, Tottenham and Wood Green offices. Information at a sub-district or constituency level is not available and therefore, I am unable to provide information on the Edmonton area in isolation. I hope this is helpful. Appendix

Table 1: Number of loans and grants in Greater London
Financial year Loans Grants
1995–96 195,252 30,410
1996–97 187,042 27,865
1997–98 192,742 26,907
1998–99 195,376 27,576
1999–20001 119,700 15,916

Table 2: Total amount spent on loans and grants in Greater London
£
Financial year Loans Grants
1995–96 41,637,468.90 12,015,099.65
1996–97 47,755,587.86 12,116,068.11
1997–98 54,245,234.66 12,565,912.12
1998–99 57,774,958.38 12,825,380.17
1999–20001 36,496,136.56 7,516,206.48

Table 3: Number of loans and grants awards in Leaside BA district
Financial year loans grants
1995–96 10,800 1,572
1996–97 11,448 1,584
1997–98 13,322 1,495
1998–99 13,595 1,683
1999–20001 7,722 850

Table 4: Total amount spent on loans and grants in Leaside BA district
£
Financial year Loans Grants
1995–96 3,173,645.26 629,846.43
1996–97 3,629,703.96 628,870.05
1997–98 4,050,184.48 633,391.42
1998–99 4,035,156.27 661,875.32
1999–20001 2,841,128.38 358,111.86
1 Figures for 1999–2000 cover the period from April to October 1999

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