Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit

HC Deb 24 June 2004 vol 422 cc87-8WS

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Mr. Chris Pond)

On behalf of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions I am announcing the publication of performance statistics for local authority administration of housing benefit and council tax benefit (HB and CTB) for the fourth quarter of 2003–04. A copy of the quarterly statistics for all local authorities in Great Britain has been placed in the Library and has been published on the Department for Work and Pensions website athttp://www.dwp.gov.uk/ asd/other_stats.asp

Publishing these statistics is part of our strategy for reforming housing benefit and for ensuring that local authorities are accountable for their performance in administration of housing benefit and council tax benefit.

Housing benefit and council tax benefit performance statistics show that in the fourth quarter of 2003–04, authorities that returned data reported that: new claims were processed in an average of 47 days, compared to 53 days in the fourth quarter of 2002–03; some 161 authorities had met the performance standard for processing new claims (36 days), compared to 130 in the same quarter of 2002–03; change of circumstances were processed in an average of 14 days, compared with 17 days in the fourth quarter of 2002–03; some 179 authorities met the performance standard for processing change of circumstances (9 days), compared to 160 in the same quarter of 2002–03.

The statistics are un-audited and are provided quarterly by local authorities to my Department.

The audited best value performance information for English local authorities for 2002–03 was published by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister on 18 December 2003 on the best value performance indicators website at: http://www.bvpi.gov.uk/home.asp. A copy is available in the Library.

The most recent corresponding data for local authorities in Wales is also for 2002–03. This is published on the Audit Commission website at http://www.lgdu-wales.gov.uk/eng/Project.asp?id = SX99A1-A77F4BA8. A copy of the relevant extract from this site is available in the Library.

The most recent corresponding data for local authorities in Scotland is also for 2002–03 and is in the Accounts Commission publication "Performance Indicators 2002–03: Benefits, Finance and Corporate Issues", a copy of which is available in the Library.