HC Deb 09 December 1975 vol 902 cc211-3
4. Mr. Golding

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what steps she intends to take to ease the burden of increased fuel bills faced by pensioners and those on long-term benefits.

The Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Security (Mr. Michael Meacher)

We have, as from the week commencing 17th November, increased retirement pensions and other associated benefits for the third time in less than 18 months. In addition, the Supplementary Benefits Commission has increased by more than a third the extra heating additions payable under its discretionary powers, from the same date.

Mr. Golding

Is my hon. Friend aware that a special grant for fuel would have allayed some of the disappointment felt by pensioners at the loss of the £10 Christmas bonus. Is he further aware that, facing massive gas bills in January, many pensioners may be driven, out of fear, to sit in the cold for the rest of the winter?

Mr. Meacher

I appreciate my hon. Friend's concern, but I must emphasise to him that both national insurance benefits and supplementary benefits are up-rated at least in line with the retail price index, which includes a fuel element that is a composite of all the fuels that people use. Both benefits have been increased substantially more than the increase in the retail price index. Since the present Government have been in office, benefits have been increased by 70 per cent. in cash terms, whereas prices have risen—up to last month's figure, which is the latest available—by 47 per cent. That gives a margin of about 13 per cent. real improvement in the value of pensions, which is a bigger improvement than pensioners have ever had under a previous Government.

Mr. Boscawen

Despite the improvement, is it not a fact that many extremely poor people are taxed on the benefits which they receive, including the fuel allowance, and are brought below the minimum subsistence level by the means test?

Mr. Meacher

No. The hon. Gentleman is incorrect when he says that pensioners are taxed on the fuel allowance. The fuel allowance is an extra heating addition under the supplementary benefits system, and it is not subject to tax.

Mrs. Bain

Is the Minister aware that, according to a recent survey, over 700,000 pensioners in the United Kingdom are living on the verge of hypothermia? Is he also aware that a survey in Scotland by the Citizens' Rights Association in 1973 showed that 90 per cent. of pensioners living alone were living in rooms that were heated to less than the 70 degrees Fahrenheit recommended level? Is the Minister satisfied that the measures taken by the Government are adequate to protect our pensioners throughout the coming winter?

Mr. Meacher

I am certainly not complacent about this matter, and I recognise the force of what the hon. Lady has said. On the hypothermia study, it is only fair to point out that other studies made of the same problem have come up with much lower figures. However, I appreciate the importance of this problem. It is for those reasons that the Government have increased the extra heating addition by 83 per cent. at a time when fuel costs have risen by 70 per cent. over the same period. That, too, is a considerable improvement.

On the hon. Lady's point about the numbers, I point out that we have substantially increased the number who are receiving the extra heating addition. The figure is now about 700,000 elderly people which, by coincidence, is the same figure as that which the hon. Lady mentioned.

Mr. Mike Thomas

Will my hon. Friend explain why, when heating additions, supplementary benefits and exceptional needs payments for draught-proofing and various other things are available, the Supplementary Benefits Commission has ruled out the provision of grants to old people to help them to insulate their homes, thereby cutting down on the need for the additions and allowances?

Mr. Meacher

I advise my hon. Friend that the Supplementary Benefits Commission is prepared to give some assistance in certain circumstances to overcome problems of insulation and draught-proofing. Obviously, given the restraint on resources that are available to the Supplementary Benefits Commission, the assistance is bound to be very limited, and clearly there cannot be an opportunity, through this mechanism, to provide insulation for a large number of elderly people.