§ Earl Russellasked Her Majesty's Government:
What plans they have to improve the administration of housing benefit; and, in particular, whether they have any plans to reduce reduplication of forms by better sharing of information between the local authority and the Benefits Agency. [HL826]
§ Baroness Hollis of HeighamWe are working with local authorities to improve the administration of housing benefit. A help team has been established which offers practical advice and support to local authorities on ways to improve delivery. The team is now visiting its sixth authority. We have also set up a help fund to enable local authorities to formulate and implement improvement plans. Authorities are being consulted about a new performance framework which will introduce from 2003 a set of performance standards for housing benefit.
In order to reduce the duplication of information provided by people claiming housing benefit as well as income support or income-based jobseeker's allowance, we are considering the feasibility of replacing claim form NHB1 with local authorities' own claim forms. Improvements in information sharing between the department and local authorities in recent years means that electronic access to income 10WA support and jobseeker's allowance data is available through remote access terminals sited in local authorities. We are currently investigating how we can give local authorities tailored electronic access to other departmental benefit data.
The customer management system will he implemented from the end of 2002. This is a single claims process that will collect information over the telephone and in person from customers claiming housing benefit with income support, jobseeker's allowance or incapacity benefit. Information relevant to the housing benefit claim will be transferred electronically to local authorities.