§ 8. Mr. Winnickasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what proposals the Government intend to bring forward over heating additions for those on limited incomes.
§ The Minister for Social Security (Mr. Tony Newton)We have recently again increased the supplementary benefit heating additions which go, for example, to all supplementary pensioner householders over 65. The total now spent on such additions is some £400 million a year. In the social security Green Paper proposals, expenditure on heating additions would be included in resources for the income support scheme and their pattern would be taken into account in setting the income support premiums for pensioners and for other groups, such as the disabled.
§ Mr. WinnickIs the Minister aware, and do the Government care, that so many people, especially pensioners, cannot afford to heat their homes during the winter months and dread the nightmare of those months? Many such people receive no assistance because they do not claim supplementary benefit. Does the Minister wish to deny that if the Green Paper proposals are put into effect fewer people will receive help with their heating bills?
§ Mr. NewtonThe improvement in heating additions for recipients of supplementary benefit, including pensioners, is now much greater than it ever was under the Labour Government. That reflects the Government's concern about this matter. I cannot add to what I have said about income support premiumns. As all supplementary benefit pensioners transferring to income support would receive a premium under the proposals, and as those premiums would take account of the current pattern of heating additions, the hon. Gentleman can draw his own conclusions.
§ Mr. WattsIs my hon. Friend aware that the proposal to incorporate heating additions and other allowances in the premium rates of income support will be widely welcomed by many pensioners as a simplification that increases access to benefit? Will he ensure that the premium rates payable to pensioners fully reflect the energy costs that pensioners necessarily incur?
§ Mr. NewtonIt is certainly our intention that the premium rates in the proposed income support scheme will take account of the additional costs falling on pensioners generally and that heating costs will be an important part of our consideration of those premiums.
§ Mr. WilsonHas the hon. Gentleman seen reports in today's Scottish papers to the effect that the Secretary of State for Scotland has been pressing for a special social fund for Scotland from which payments could be made for heating allowances to cope with the cold climate? If the Secretary of State finds it necessary to press for such a fund because he cannot accept the prospect of Scottish pensioners having to decide between eating or heating, will the hon. Gentleman support that decision? This would mean that people in Scotland, with its colder climate, would have sufficient heating to enable them to live in comfort.
§ Mr. NewtonI shall certainly consider any views attributed to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State about the development of our social security proposals. We shall take any such points into account in working out the proposals for the social fund.
§ Mr. James HamiltonWill the hon. Gentleman concede that last year Scottish pensioners got the rawest of raw deals from the Government? Does he recognise that climatic conditions in Scotland are worse than in any other part of the United Kingdom? Will he take cognisance of that fact and ensure that on this occasion those pensioners get a fair deal?
§ Mr. NewtonI can at least assure the hon. Gentleman that supplementary pensioners and other supplementary benefit recipients in Scotland, including the long-term sick and disabled, will have benefited, as in other parts of the country, from the large increases in heating additions made by the Government, which were increased again just a couple of weeks ago at the time of the uprating.
§ Mr. McCrindleDoes my hon. Friend accept that there is no particular virtue in paying these heating allowances separately? Does he accept also that the idea of embodying them in a general needs assessment will be warmly welcomed by many hon. Members on both sides of the House? Will he confirm that, in moving towards that system, it is proposed to wind up the special weather allowance, which has caused great concern because it has been paid in one constituency and not been paid in another just a few miles away?
§ Mr. NewtonI welcome the first part of what my hon. Friend said. As about 90 per cent. of supplementary benefit pensioners now receive a heating addition, it is obviously more sensible to give such benefits in a more generalised way, along the lines of the premiums that we have proposed. As to the exceptionally severe weather payments, my hon. Friend will be aware that the chief adjudication officer issued new guidance on the administration of those regulations last week. Ministers 754 continue to consider the matter in the light of the guidance and the commissioner's ruling, but I cannot add anything to that.
§ Mr. AshleyIs the Minister aware that there are ominous signs that many old people are losing the battle to keep warm, as is shown in Stoke-on-Trent, where the major hospital already has a red alert because many old people are suffering from chest diseases and cannot keep warm? The Government are responsible for people who are old being cold.
§ Mr. NewtonI have always hesitated to be overaggressive with the right hon. Gentleman, but, in the light of what the Government have done to increase heating additions, not only for pensioners but for many disabled people, it is ridiculous for anybody who supported the miserable provision by the last Labour Government to be attacking this Government.
§ Mrs. BeckettIs the hon. Gentleman aware that it is fairly outrageous for a Minister in this Government to talk about the increases in heating additions without also referring to the increases in fuel prices imposed by the Government? Will he accept that if there is any truth in the rumours—I hope that he will take this opportunity to deny them—that it is intended not to reform but to restrict the operation of the severe weather allowance, such behaviour by the Government will be regarded as a disgraceful act?
§ Mr. NewtonI sometimes wonder where Labour Members were during the period of the last Labour Government. If anybody has more nerve than the right hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent, South (Mr. Ashley), it must be the hon. Lady, who has forgotten the deplorable record of fuel price increases under the previous Labour Government.