I propose to take Questions Nos. 250 and 257 together.
Subject to certain conditions, the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, which is administered on behalf of my Department by the health boards, provides for the payment of a weekly or monthly supplement in respect of rent or mortgage interest to assist with reasonable accommodation costs of eligible people who are unable to provide for their accommodation costs from their own resources and who do not have accommodation available to them from any other source.
Recipient numbers and expenditure on rent and mortgage interest supplement, categorised by health board, in respect of 2003 and to date in 2004 are set out in the following tabular statements.