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24 Mar 2009 : Column 254W—continued
Local Housing Allowance
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether rates of local housing allowance paid by local housing authorities are adjusted at the time of the outcome of a 12-month review of the rate of local housing allowance calculated by the Rent Service. [266153]
Kitty Ussher: Rent officers review and notify local housing allowance rates for a range of property sizes to local authorities each month. When a person living in the deregulated private rented sector claims housing benefit the local authority will use the appropriate local housing allowance rate, based on the area where the person lives and the size of their household, to determine the maximum amount to be included in the benefit calculation. That maximum amount will not be reviewed until the anniversary of the claim unless the person changes address or a change in the composition of the household affects the number of bedrooms it requires. At the point the maximum amount is reviewed, the local authority will apply the latest local housing allowance rate appropriate to the claim. This can lead to an adjustment, upwards or downwards, in the amount payable.
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he plans to issue guidance to local authorities on the use of local housing allowance vulnerability criteria. [266154]
Kitty Ussher: Guidance on the use of vulnerability criteria was issued to local authorities prior to the national rollout of local housing allowance on 7 April 2008 and is kept under regular review. We are satisfied that the criteria are being applied in line with the policy intention and currently have no plans to revise them.
Low Incomes: Credit
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions which areas of the UK have received money from the Growth Fund to increase the provision of affordable credit. [265843]
Kitty Ussher [holding answer 23 March 2009]: As promised by my predecessor, on 7 March 2008, Official Report, column 2862W, this information is placed in the House of Commons Library and updated on a quarterly basis.
Through the Growth Fund the Department is increasing access to affordable credit for those at risk of financial exclusion. A further £38 million allocated from the Financial Inclusion Fund for the period 2008 to 2011 will be used to maintain and increase coverage in existing Growth Fund areas, and extend coverage to the highest priority, under-served areas identified by the Financial Inclusion Taskforce’s recent mapping research.
Opinion Leader Research
Mr. Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much his (a) Department and (b) its agencies have paid Opinion Leader Research in each year since December 2007. [266001]
Jonathan Shaw: The total payments made to Opinion Leader Research since 31 December 2007 are £33,622.75, as at end of February 2009.
Poverty: Children
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many responses were received to his Department’s consultation on the draft Child Poverty Bill; and when he plans to publish the Bill. [264190]
Kitty Ussher: We have received around 240 responses to the e-consultation document.
The Child Poverty Unit also held a key stakeholders consultation event on 3 March to discuss the questions raised in the consultation document. Save the Children organised a number of events to get the views of children and young people, attended by 129 children.
In addition to consultation responses, Government Offices have held a series of consultation events with local authorities and other delivery partners to discuss the proposals set out in “Ending Child Poverty: Making it Happen”.
We are still awaiting confirmation of the legislative timetable.
Social Fund
Julia Goldsworthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many applications for crisis loans from residents of each constituency were (a) made and (b) approved in each year since 1997; and what the average value of loan made was in each constituency in each of those years. [253662]
Kitty Ussher: The requested information is not available.
Data on crisis loans are not held by constituency, but by Jobcentre Plus Social Fund budget area. Before that they were held by Jobcentre Plus district and prior to that by Social Fund district. Since May 2002, there have been several changes to the boundaries of administrative areas. As a result, data which can be compared across time are available for all Jobcentre Plus Social Fund budget areas from September 2006 only.
The available annual information is given in the following table.
Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what consideration he has given to authorising the provision of good quality second-hand furniture from the Social Fund when it makes grants in kind; and if he will make a statement. [265842]
Kitty Ussher [holding answer 23 March 2009]: The Welfare Reform Bill includes the power to arrange for the provision of goods or services rather than cash to people awarded Community Care Grants.
In deciding on the arrangements to be made with suppliers we will consider a wide range of requirements that need to be met and we hope to be able to offer a range of products.
All suppliers who feel that they can meet the criteria of the tender will be welcome to bid to provide goods and services and each submission will be considered on its own merits.
In addition our forthcoming consultation paper on reform of the Social Fund will discuss whether we can provide greater signposting to recycled furniture providers where appropriate.
Northern Ireland
AccessNI
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many members of staff were employed by AccessNI in each month since April 2008. [264747]
Paul Goggins: The information requested is shown in the following table.
| Date | Number of AccessNI s taff |
Sammy Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many (a) basic, (b) standard and (c) enhanced applications have been processed by AccessNI in each month since April 2008; and what percentage of each category was completed within the performance target time. [264748]
Paul Goggins: The following table sets out the number of disclosures processed on a monthly basis since April 2008.
| Date | Basic | Standard | Enhanced |
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