HC Deb 18 June 2004 vol 422 cc1133-4W
Simon Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people(a) have claimed and (b) are eligible for council tax benefit in Greater London, broken down by borough, in each of the last three years. [179357]

Mr. Pond

The information is not available in the format requested. Estimates of the number of entitled non-recipients are not available below national level. The national level estimates can be found in a series of DWP reports entitled "Income Related Benefits Estimates of Take-Up". The latest publication relates to the financial year 2001–02; copies of this and previous reports are available from the Library.

The available information is in the table.

Council tax benefit recipients by London borough
Thousand
Local authority 2002 2003 2004
London GOR 610.4 625.4 646.7
Barking and Dagenham 18.0 18.4 18.7
Barnet 20.0 20.3 21.7
Bexley 13.0 13.0 13.4
Brent 21.5 22.9 24.4
Bromley 15.0 14.1 16.2

Council tax benefit recipients by London borough
Thousand
Local authority 2002 2003 2004
Camden 24.1 23.8 23.5
City of London 0.4 0.4 0.4
Croydon 22.9 23.3 24.3
Ealing 19.9 19.6 22.0
Enfield 23.1 22.8 25.0
Greenwich 22.8 23.9 24.0
Hackney 28.2 29.8 25.8
Hammersmith and Fulham 16.8 16.6 17.4
Haringey 24.7 25.8 27.1
Harrow 11.6 11.5 12.8
Havering 14.7 14.6 15.2
Hillingdon 16.2 15.7 16.8
Hounslow 16.4 16.7 16.9
Islington 24.9 24.6 26.8
Kensington and Chelsea 12.1 12.5 12.0
Kingston upon Thames 6.7 6.2 7.0
Lambeth 25.5 29.9 29.8
Lewisham 26.8 26.8 27.1
Merton 10.8 10.7 10.9
Newham 28.3 31.2 32.0
Redbridge 15.5 15.7 16.6
Richmond upon Thames 8.4 8.5 8.9
Southwark 33.0 34.4 34.4
Sutton 8.3 9.8 10.0
Tower Hamlets 28.8 29.3 29.9
Waltham Forest 19.9 20.2 20.7
Wandsworth 18.1 17.6 19.6
Westminster 14.1 14.6 15.5
Notes:
1. The data refers to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple.
2. The figures are rounded to the nearest hundred and expressed in thousands.
3. Council tax benefit totals exclude any Second Adult Rebate cases.
4. Figures include estimates for non-responding local authorities.
Source:
Housing benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System Quarterly 100 per cent. caseload stock-count taken in February 2002, 2003 and 2004.