Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to help people with chronic and enduring mental illnesses make an application for housing benefit.

Although this Department has overall responsibility for the Housing Benefit scheme and its funding, local authorities have the statutory responsibility for its day-to-day administration. This incorporates the assessment of individual claims for benefit and devising their own arrangements to assist claimants (including those with chronic and enduring mental illnesses) with claims for Housing Benefit.