Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the effects of the measures to restrict finance cost relief for landlords, announced in the Summer Budget 2015, on the overall costs of Housing Benefit in (a) Scotland and (b) the UK.

The overall cost of housing benefit is dependent on a number of factors such as, household and individual circumstances in regards to employment and household income, inflation and rents. The Government does not expect a large impact on rent levels in Scotland and the UK from this policy, and any impact would be dampened in the short term due to other policy decisions. Therefore the government does not anticipate changes to the overall cost of Housing Benefit as a result.