§ Mr. ColemanTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will make a statement about(a) progress on research into the effects of council tax benefit restriction and (b) when the report will be published. [110542]
§ Angela EagleIn March 1999 we commissioned independent researchers to monitor the effects of the Council Tax Benefit restriction introduced in April 1998. Although local authorities have sought to co-operate with the research, many encountered difficulties and delays in extracting usable data. We extended the fieldwork period in order to allow the maximum number of authorities to take part but the amount and quality of data we will collect from the study may be limited. All social research conducted as part of the DSS Research Programme is published. The only exceptions would be if the results breached confidentiality, were potentially libellous or unreliable. As long as the data are of sufficient quality and we are confident that the findings are reliable, we hope to publish a report of the study in Spring.