HC Deb 19 June 2000 vol 352 cc83-4W
Mr. Webb

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what the gross discretionary Social Fund budget for 2000–01 will be, broken down by(a) the community care grant (b) budgeting loans and (c) crisis loans.[125287]

Angela Eagle

The gross discretionary Social Fund budget for 2000–01 is £596 million, which will be funded by Annually Managed Expenditure of £138.2 million and loan recoveries of £457.8 million. The community care grant budget is £100 million and the gross loans budget is £494 million. Both budgeting loans and crisis loans are paid from the same budget.

A contingency reserve of £2 million has been retained centrally to provide additional help to any Benefits Agency Districts that face unexpected and unplanned expenditure as a result of a local emergency or disaster.

Details of individual Benefits Agency District budget allocations were placed in the Library on 3 April.