Social Fund

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much and what proportion of the Social Fund has been awarded in 2008-09 to date; how much has been awarded in (a) crisis loans, (b) budgeting loans and (c) community care grants; and if he will make a statement. (246906)

The information requested is shown in the following table.

*Discretionary Social Fund expenditure for Great Britain for April to December 2008*
Award type	Gross expenditure (£ million)	Proportion of relevant 2008-09 budget (percentage)
Crisis loans	117.1	n/a
Budgeting loans	363.3	n/a
Total loans	480.4	¹89
Community care grants	107.0	²76
n/a = Not applicable ¹ Of gross loans budget ²Of community care grant budget Notes: 1. Gross expenditure includes awards made after review. 2. There are not separate gross budgets for crisis loans and budgeting loans, but rather a combined gross loans budget for both. 3. It is expected that an in-year allocation to the gross loans budget will be made before the end of the financial year. The proportion given above is based on the initial gross loans budget. 4. As well as the gross loans budget and the community care grant budget, there is a contingency reserve to support any Jobcentre Plus budget area that comes under pressure from unforeseen expenditure. This has not been included in the above proportions. Source: DWP Social Fund Policy, Budget and Management Information System.

Volume 486: debated on Tuesday 20 January 2009