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Mrs. Dunwoody
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will direct local authorities to determine the claim for rent from students on the basis of information received from rent officers prior to a tenancy agreement being signed.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard
No. Rent officers' determinations are made for the purposes of calculating housing benefit subsidy, and do not form the basis on which local authorities are required to determine benefit entitlement.
Mrs. Dunwoody
To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will reconsider the procedures for the referral of rents by the relevant officer for students in rented accommodation.
Mrs. Gillian Shephard
We have no plans for doing so, although we are keeping the rent officer arrangements under review.