Latest news from Parliament from May (up to 18 May 2011)

Under occupation

Ms Buck:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he intends to apply a housing benefit deduction to social tenants deemed to be under-occupying their homes where a forthcoming change of circumstances would mean the property could no longer be defined as such due to dependent children reaching an age which changed their eligibility for a bedroom. [53717]

Steve Webb:We are currently considering the policy detail of this measure and how it will be implemented. Further details will be published in due course.

Under 25 claimants

Mr Ruffley:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people aged 25 years or under claimed housing benefit in each year for which figures are available since 2005. [53424]

Steve Webb:The available information is in the following table. Information prior to November 2008 is not available.

 

Housing benefit recipients in Great Britain aged 25 and under, as at the dates shown
	Number
November 2008	383,240
January 2009	397,940
January 2010	476,670
January 2011	488,830

Average time taken to process claims 

 Mr Ruffley:To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average time taken to process a claim for (a) housing and (b) council tax benefit was in each of the last five years. [53471]

Steve Webb:The requested information is in the table.

 

Average days to process new housing benefit and council tax benefit claims
	Housing benefit	Council tax benefit
2006-07	33	33
2007-08	27	26
2008-09	n/a	n/a
2009-10	25	25
2010-11	22	23

Allocation procedures 

Ms Buck:To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the number of (a) local authorities and (b) registered social landlords who will amend their allocation procedures in 2011-12 in order to enable tenants to downsize to avoid housing benefits reductions for under-occupation of their home. [53740]

Grant Shapps:Local authorities and social landlords should already be helping social tenants who wish to move to smaller properties, and many do so. Provisions in the Localism Bill will make it easier for local authorities to give priority to existing tenants wishing to move.

We have also established an action team based in the Chartered Institute of Housing to support local authorities and housing associations to promote moves by under-occupiers, and this will include ensuring their allocation policies are aligned with this objective.