Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that councils do not use the Crisis and Resilience Fund to replace LWA schemes.

My Department has worked closely with local authorities and other stakeholders on the detailed design of the Fund. We published scheme guidance in January to enable local authorities to prepare for delivery.

The guidance makes clear that the Crisis and Resilience Fund is classified as local welfare provision and is intended to support and strengthen local crisis support and wider local welfare systems, rather than replace existing Local Welfare Assistance schemes.