Hansard

Housing Benefit: Warrington

Volume 461: debated on Tuesday 12 June 2007

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Helen Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claims for housing benefit were dealt with by Warrington borough council in each of the last five years; and what the average award was in the most recent period for which figures are available. (141013)

Mr. Plaskitt

The available information is in the following table.

Housing benefit (HB) claims in Warrington borough council

Number of HB claims

2002-03

5,014

2003-04

n/a

2004-05

3,469

2005-06

4,124

2006-07

2,940

n/a = Not available

Notes:

1. Figures are for financial years.

2. For 2006-07 the data are from April to December 2006.

As at November 2006, the average weekly amount of housing benefit in Warrington borough council was £58.21.

Performance management information returned by local authorities to the Department is published on the Housing Benefit Operational Database (HoBOD). HoBOD can be accessed using the following link:

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/hobod

Helen Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the average time taken by Warrington borough council to process a claim for housing benefit was in the most recent period for which figures are available; and what the average time was in comparable local authorities. (141014)

Mr. Plaskitt

The average time taken by Warrington Borough Council to process a claim for housing benefit up to 31 December 2006 is 25 days. For the same period the national average time for local authorities to process a housing benefit claim is 34 days.

Performance management information returned by local authorities to the Department is published on the Housing Benefit Operational Database (HoBOD). HoBOD can be accessed using the following link:

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/hobod