Graham Stuart (Beverley & Holderness, Conservative)

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how much expenditure from allowing claimants to receive more in local housing allowance than they have to pay in rent the Government (a) has incurred in each year since the introduction of the allowance and (b) is expected to incur in 2009-10.

Helen Goodman (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Work and Pensions; Bishop Auckland, Labour)

The local housing allowance was rolled out nationally to new claims and to those who move address from 7 April 2008.

The Department has aggregate expenditure information for 2008-09 on local housing allowance so cannot give the actual value of expenditure incurred from allowing claimants to receive more in local housing allowance than they have to pay in rent.

The table shows the current estimate of the additional expenditure which may have been incurred in 2008-09 and is expected to occur in 2009-10.

It is important to note that these estimates are subject to a number of assumptions and estimates are sensitive to small changes in these assumptions.