§ Ms Glenda JacksonTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will assess the impact of changes made to the administration of Housing Benefit upon registered social landlords. [147874]
§ Angela EagleWe published in December 2000 our response to consultation on the Housing Green Paper. This set out radical measures to bring about improvement to the administration of Housing Benefit. These measures will help us to bring improvements to the performance of struggling councils to raise standards across the board and to streamline Housing Benefit to make it easier for councils to administer and simpler for individuals to claim.
As part of the drive to ease the burden on local authorities the Department is also discussing with representatives of registered social landlords proposals they have volunteered for assisting with elements of Housing Benefit administration.
We have also taken account of representations received from registered social landlords, and others about the appeal rights of third parties against the recovery of overpayments of housing benefit. Our decisions on this were set out in my written answer to my hon. Friend the Member for Birmingham, Hall Green (Mr. McCabe) on 10 January 2001, Official Report, column 575W.