To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to the answer of 26 March 2008, Official Report, column 276W, on immigration: housing, how much funding is available for local authorities in the transitional costs fund; how much has been disbursed; which local authorities have received funding; and over what timescale such funding will be available. (198249)

The financial support available will depend on the claims made by local authorities. Funding will be available for some items of expenditure incurred by local authorities on an agreed cohort of supported families cases processed by the Agency. We cannot therefore accurately estimate the level of funding required.

At the present time no payments have been made to any local authority. Support will be made available to individual authorities for a maximum of six months after they have begun to incur qualifying expenditure.