§ Ms Dari TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many and what proportion of council house occupiers are claiming Housing Benefit in Stockton, South; and how many people in Stockton, South in total are claiming Housing Benefit. [1092]
§ Malcolm WicksThe information is not available in the format requested as Housing Benefit data for the parliamentary constituency of Stockton, South are not available. Such information as is available is as follows.
At February 2001, a total of 12,800 people were claiming Housing Benefit in Stockton on Tees borough council, 8,600 of whom were local authority tenants.
Information on the number local authority tenancies in existence in each authority is not collected by central Government.
§ Ms Dari TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps his Department is taking to reform Housing Benefit in respect of amalgamating the tax and benefit systems. [1085]
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§ Malcolm WicksOur long-term aim is to make structural changes to Housing Benefit and its interaction with the tax system. The final design of Pension Credit and the new tax credits, and how they will interact with Housing Benefit, will be set out in due course.
However, our immediate priority is to continue to improve the administration of the current Housing Benefit scheme.
§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average length of time is for a Housing Benefit application to be processed, broken down by local authority. [933]
§ Malcolm WicksFrom April 2000, local authorities in England and Wales have been collecting data against best value performance indicators for the speed, accuracy, cost and security of their Housing Benefit services. Analogous performance indicators have been set by the Accounts Commission for Scottish authorities.
The Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions expects to publish this summer unaudited and estimated data for 2000–01 against all best value performance indicators in respect of English authorities. Final results will be published once this provisional data have been fully analysed.
Prior to the introduction of best value, the Audit Commission collected data for the last six months of 1999–2000 on the average length of time taken by English and Welsh authorities to process new Housing Benefit claims. This information is set out in two reports: "Local Authority Performance Indicators 1999–2000—Council Services Compendium For England", published on 10 January 2001, a copy of which is in the Library; and "Local Authority Performance Indicators In Wales, 1999–2000", published on 26 March 2001.
§ Ms Dari TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Work arid Pensions for what reason Working Families Tax Credit is taken into account in full when calculating Housing Benefit. [1089]
§ Malcolm WicksHousing Benefit (HB) is an income-related benefit and most types of income are generally taken fully into account when calculating entitlement. This applies equally to the Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC), which is intended to help meet ordinary living costs. To disregard WFTC when calculating HB entitlement would result in double provision from the Government for the same basic living costs.
However, limited situations exist where WFTC is partly disregarded in the assessment of HB. People who work 30 hours a week or more and who have children may get a partial disregard of WFTC if their earnings are very low. In addition, people with relevant child care costs which cannot be fully met from earnings can have the balance of those costs disregarded.