Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what amount of Discretionary Housing Payments funding his Department had spent on (a) 10 November 2021 and (b) 10 November 2022.

The Government allocated £140m in Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) funding in 2021-22 and £100m in 2022-23 to Local Authorities in England and Wales. Local Authorities administer the DHP scheme as they are best placed to make informed judgements about relative priorities and needs in their area to ensure that the most vulnerable are supported and the funds are targeted effectively.

Local Authorities mandatorily submit DHP expenditure information at mid-year, which covers expenditure over the first 6 months of the financial year (1^st April to 30^th September), and end-of-year which covers spend for the whole of the financial year (1^st April to 31^st March). These returns are used to produce statistics on Discretionary Housing Payments which are published twice a year and can be accessed here.