Severe Weather Payments (Hansard, 18 February 1985)

§ Mr. Paddy Ashdown (Yeovil)
I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 10, for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration, namely, the allocation of exceptionally severe weather payments The matter is specific, because it concerns the way in which the exceptionally severe weather payment is operated. It is urgent, because old people in my constituency and elsewhere in Britain who should qualify, but do not do so, are suffering now as a result of the scheme's operation. Indeed, two old people in my constituency, one in South Chard and the other in Seavington, have died from hypothermia in recent weeks. If a method cannot be found to alter the way in which the scheme is operated, there will be more suffering, and possibly even more deaths.
My area of the south-west of England has been among the worst affected by the recent cold spell — [Interruption.] Conservative Members may consider this to be a joke, but I assure them that it is not. Needless to say, the weather is no respecter of DHSS boundaries. The whole of my constituency has suffered equally from the cold, yet not all of my constituents are entitled to severe weather payments.
About half of my constituency falls within the Bournemouth DHSS area. The entitlement of those who live in that area to severe weather payments depends on what has happened 40 miles away to the south, at the Bournemouth weather station. The other half of my constituency falls within the Bristol DHSS area. The entitlement of the people in that half is measured by what has happened 40 miles away to the north, at the Bristol weather station. As a result those who live in one half of my constituency are entitled to payment, while those who live in the other half are not.
We have the ludicrous situation that one old person can get the allowance, while another old person living 100 yd distant cannot get it. What logic is there in that? Thanks to inadequate housing, insufficient insulation and the astronomical price of coal, many old people are now having to pay £15 a week for the heat they require to keep alive.
The exceptional weather payment offers such people the only means of coping, yet many are denied help 732 because of the ludicrous bureaucracy of the present situation. There are more tragic deaths from cold waiting to happen unless the Government can be persuaded—[Interruption.]—to alter—

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. The Standing Order No. 10 application procedure is a cherished Back-Bench opportunity to raise important matters. I must be able to hear what the hon. Member is saying.

§ Mr. Ashdown
Many tragic deaths resulting from the cold will happen unless the Government can be persuaded to alter the regulations to cope with the realities of the situation, rather than taking refuge behind the "Mad Hatter" regulations of the DHSS. We need urgently to debate this matter if the lives of many old people are not to be further endangered.

§ Mr. Speaker
The hon. Member for Yeovil (Mr. Ashdown) asks leave to move the Adjournment of the House for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that he believes should have urgent consideration, namely, the allocation of exceptionally severe weather payments following the death recently of two of his constituents from hypothermia. I have listened with care to what the hon. Member said, but I regret that I must give him the same answer as I gave to the hon. Member for Liverpool, Riverside (Mr. Parry). I do not consider that the matter which he has raised is appropriate for discussion under Standing Order No. 10, and I cannot, therefore, submit his application to the House.