Mr. Scott: Where appropriate, Social Fund Crisis loans will be recovered from future payments of certain social security benefits made to the recipient of the loan.

Mr. Portillo: Applicants for Social Fund Crisis loans are not categorised on the basis of priority groups.

Social Fund Crisis loans may be considered for immediate short-term needs in an emergency where a loan is the only means of avoiding serious damage or serious risk to the health or safety of the applicant or a member of the family.

Mr. Scott: Young homeless people can apply for a Social Fund Crisis loan.

If, in the interim, the pensioner needs help with living expenses he may apply for a Social Fund Crisis loan.

Mr. Peter Lloyd: Information on the numbers by month of applications processed for Social Fund Crisis loans together with the number and value of awards made is available in the Library.

Mr. Peter Lloyd: Social Fund Crisis loans are available to help people meet costs arising from an emergency or disaster where no other help is immediately available.

Ms. Mowlam: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security if he will publish a table showing the total numbers and amounts of applications for the period 5 April 1988 to 31 March 1989, inclusive, in respect of (a) social fund community care grants, (b) Social Fund Crisis loans and (c) social fund budgeting loans.

Those who are homeless may claim a Social Fund Crisis loan to enable them to secure accommodation.

Those who are homeless continue to be able to claim a Social Fund Crisis loan to enable them to secure accommodation.

However, a Social Fund Crisis loan may be considered for an amount below £30 if the applicant has no other resources and there is a serious risk to the health or safety of the applicant or a member of his or her family.

Ms. Mowlam: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many applications for review were received during the period April 1989 to March 1990 inclusive in respect of (a) social fund community care grants, (b) social fund budgeting loans and (c) Social Fund Crisis loans, by each of his Department's local offices at Eston, Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, Redcar and Stockton, and how many of each of these applications for review resulted in revised decisions.

Anyone on compulsory unpaid holiday, including a person who normally works 24 or more hours a week and does not have enough money to tide him over until his next payday may be able to get a Social Fund Crisis loan, if this is the only means of avoiding serious risk to his health and safety.

Currently at Johnstone are income support, liable relatives, direct payment, overpayments, Social Fund Crisis loans and part of finance sections.

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many applications for Social Fund Crisis loans from 16 and 17-year-olds have been (a) awarded and (b) refused.

Benefit Clearance Times1 Social Fund Crisis loans—applications cleared on the day the need arises.

Benefit clearance times1 Social Fund Crisis loans—applications cleared on the day the need arises.

Immediate help is, however, already available to those at risk of severe hardship through the Social Fund Crisis loan.

I am therefore replying to the points raised in your recent Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for Social Security about Social Fund Crisis loan payments in Euston District.

Miss Widdecombe: The target clearance times relevant to the revised arrangements announced on 4 May are as follows: Benefit Clearance target1 Social Fund Crisis Loans 2— Social Fund Community Care Grants 20 days Income Support—Claims 13 days Sickness and Invalidity Benefit 30 days Child Benefit 30 days Family Credit 42 days Disability Living Allowance 55 days Disability Working Allowance (Claims from people starting work) 5 days Retirement Pension 60 days 1 Shown as working days.

All targets, apart from that for Social Fund Crisis Loans are expressed in the formula X per cent.

Social Fund Crisis loans may also be available.

(2) if he will list those Benefits Agency offices that have not achieved their charter targets for (a) income support, (b) retirement pensions, (c) sickness and invalidity benefit and (d) Social Fund Crisis loan claims.

British citizens who fail the habitual residence test may apply for a Social Fund Crisis loan if, in an emergency or as a consequence of a disaster, they face serious risk to health and safety, and payment of a crisis loan is the only way of alleviating the situation.

To mock the plight of those people even more, Ministers say that these asylum seekers can apply for a Social Fund Crisis loan, when they know that no such applications can be accepted because the asylum seeker will have no benefit from which to pay back the loan.

Benefit claims clearance times Social Fund Crisis Loans—the day the need arises.

in 30 days Social Fund Crisis loans1 On the day the need arises On the day the need arises Income support accuracy 87 per cent.

in 30 days Social Fund Crisis loans1 On the day the need arises On the day the need arises On the day the need arises Income support accuracy 87 per cent.

Social Fund Crisis loans 97.

In addition, Social Fund Crisis loans can be paid to people, whether on benefit or not, where the applicant needs help with fares to hospital for treatment for the applicant or a member of their family.

The obvious point of call is a Social Fund Crisis loan which has been devised to provide bridging and emergency money until an individual's financial situation can be regularised.

Social Fund Crisis

Social Fund Crisis loans are also payable under normal rules to prevent people in affected areas from suffering hardship.

Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many people in the constituency of Crewe and Nantwich have been awarded (a) attendance allowance, (b) back to work bonus, (c) business start up, (d) child benefit, (e) child maintenance bonus, (f) child support maintenance, (g) cold weather payment, (h) community care grants, (i) council tax benefit, (j) disability living allowance, (k) incapacity benefit, (l) income support, (m) industrial injury disablement benefit, (n) invalid care allowance, (o) maternity allowance, (p) severe disablement allowance, (q) Social Fund Crisis loans, (r) stakeholder pensions, (s) statutory maternity pay, (t) statutory sick pay and (u) winter fuel payments since May 1997.

It seems that Social Fund Crisis loan applicants have been excluded as a group from the new, allegedly customer friendly approach of Jobcentre Plus.

Social Fund Crisis loans are available to people who are without resources, irrespective of their benefit status, to prevent serious damage or risk to health or safety in the event of an emergency or a disaster.

309W Social Fund Crisis Loans can be made to people in an emergency where there are no other means of preventing serious damage or serious risk to health or safety.

We do not anticipate any increase in Social Fund Crisis loan applications because of Direct Payment and therefore have no plans to make any changes to the Social Fund.

Social Fund Crisis loans can be made to help with the day-to-day living expenses of people awaiting a first payment of benefit which is paid in arrears.

These measures include Job Grant, Lone Parents' Run-On, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit Extended Payments, Mortgage Interest Run-On, the Adviser 246W Discretion Fund, Social Fund Crisis Loans and the New Tax Credits.

The changes announced last week to Social Fund Crisis loans will cut the level and availability of loans for essential items such as beds and cookers.

The changes to the social fund and crisis loans that were announced in March - after the Back-Bench motion was passed in February - mean that Social Fund Crisis loans will no longer be available to pay for basics such as cookers and beds, and the living expenses rate is being cut from 75% to 60% of the benefit rate, thereby limiting the number of loans that can be applied for.

Although Social Fund Crisis loans and community care grants will disappear from April next year, the need for emergency and one-off support for people on low incomes will not.

First, short-term advances of benefit for universal credit and legacy benefit claimants will replace interim payments and Social Fund Crisis loan alignment payments from1 April 2013 for legacy benefits and29 April for universal credit.