Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the total sum of housing benefit payable to households living in the private rented sector in 2017-18.

Forecasts of Housing Benefit expenditure, consistent with the Office for Budget Responsibility’s March 2017 Economic and Fiscal Outlook are available on gov.uk at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/benefit-expenditure-and-caseload-tables-2017

Expenditure on Housing Benefit for households living in the private rented sector in 2017/18 is forecast to be £8.8 billion. This includes the Housing Benefit that would have been paid to households who are instead receiving housing support through Universal Credit.