§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for what reason housing benefit statistics produced by his Department exclude extended payment cases. [41786]
§ Malcolm WicksExtended payments of Housing Benefit were introduced in 1996 and are available when an Income Support or an income-based Jobseeker's Allowance claim ends due to a person starting work (or increasing their hours and/or earnings) which is expected to last at least five weeks. They can be paid for four weeks and remove the uncertainty faced by many people about whether they will be able to pay their rent and council tax between the last payment of benefit and receipt of their first wages.
As these claims are a fixed period award of Housing Benefit for up to four weeks they were originally excluded from all Housing Benefit statistics to make sure they did not inflate or distort the figures. They were, however, collected for internal use and they have been included in a footnote to tables in the Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Quarterly Summary Statistics since November 1999.
§ Mr. KirkwoodTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his answer of 13 February 2002,Official Report, column 500W, on the departmental expenditure limit, to the hon. Member for Blackpool North and Fleetwood, what aspects of the administration of housing benefit and council tax benefit appeals have been transferred to the Lord Chancellor's Department. [44294]
§ Malcolm WicksThe Lord Chancellor's Department has responsibility for the Social Security Commissioners. From 2 July 2001 people can appeal against a Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit decision to an independent appeal tribunal administered by the Appeals Service. A further appeal against the decision of these tribunals can be made to the Social Security Commissioners. Funds were transferred to the Lord Chancellor's Department to cover the costs of administering these appeals.