Housing Benefit

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many housing benefit recipients there were in the North East Government office region in the last three years, broken down by (a) tenure type and (b) average weekly amount of benefit; and how many private tenants in receipt of housing benefit received less than their weekly eligible rent (i) because of single room rent, (ii) because of local reference rent restrictions and (iii) for other reasons in the same period. (93946)

The available information is in the following tables:

*Housing benefit (HB) recipients by tenure type and average weekly amounts of HB: North East GOR, at May each year*
Tenure	Case load	Average weekly amount (£)
2002
All HB recipients	238,000	43.89

Social tenants	200,000	41.59
Of which:
are local authority tenants	142,000	39.03
are RSL tenants	58,000	47.84

Private tenants	38,000	56.09

2003
All HB recipients	234,000	45.03

Social tenants	197,000	42.97
Of which:
are local authority tenants	130,000	40.26
are RSL tenants	67,000	48.26

Private tenants	38,000	55.72

2004
All HB recipients	231,000	47.41

Social tenants	194,000	45.37
Of which:
are local authority tenants	122,000	42.43
are RSL tenants	71,000	50.42

Private tenants	38,000	57.84
Notes: 1. Caseloads are rounded to the nearest thousand and amounts to the nearest penny. Totals may not sum due to rounding. 2. HB figures exclude any extended payment cases. 3. The data refers to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple. 4. Private tenants exclude registered social landlords (RSL). 5. Weekly eligible rent is before any non-dependant deductions. Source: Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System, Annual 1 per cent. sample, taken in May 2002 to May 2004.

Housing benefit (HB) private tenants whose weekly amount of HB is less than their weekly eligible rent by whether they are subject to the local reference rent (LRR) scheme, the single room rent (SRR) scheme or neither: North East GOR, at May each year
	HB private tenants	Of which: have weekly amount of HB less than their weekly eligible rent
2002
All	38,000	7,000
LRR	25,000	5,000
SRR	¹1,000	²—
Neither	12,000	¹2,000

2003
All	38,000	6,000
LRR	28,000	3,000
SRR	¹1,000	²—
Neither	9,000	¹2,000

2004
All	38,000	7,500
LRR	30,000	5,000
SRR	²—-	²—
Neither	8,000	¹2,000
¹Figures under 2,500, are subject to a high degree of sampling variation and should be used only as a guide to the situation. ²"—" denotes nil/negligible. Notes: 1. Caseloads are rounded to the nearest thousand. Totals may not sum due to rounding. 2. HB figures exclude any Extended Payment cases. 3. The data refers to benefit units, which may be a single person or a couple. 4. Private tenants exclude Registered Social Landlords. 5. Weekly eligible rent is after any non-dependant deductions. Source: Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Management Information System, Annual 1 per cent sample, taken in May 2002 to May 2004.

Volume 450: debated on Thursday 19 October 2006