Dr. Robert Sweeney:

The short answer is "No". I do not have the figures for the number of people on rent supplement or the number of those in arrears on rent supplement. I can have a look to find those and bring them to the committee.

Regarding the merits of each, there are good and bad points. For instance, there were criticisms of rent supplement in terms of the ability of people to take up full-time work. That is not so much the case with RAS and HAP because you are allowed to take up full-time work on those schemes. There is not that barrier that if you work 30 hours or more, you cannot take up full-time work.

One of the advantages of RAS over HAP is that the local authority has greater responsibility to source housing for the tenant, including when the tenancy is terminated by the landlord. With HAP, it is the responsibility of the tenant to find that accommodation himself or herself. One of the stated advantages of HAP is that the quality of the accommodation will be higher. As we have a long social housing waiting list, it is not straightforward for a local authority to find accommodation for someone through RAS.