HC Deb 25 November 1986 vol 106 cc132-3
13. Mr. Michie

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether the trigger temperature of -1.5 deg. C. for the new severe weather payments will apply only where that temperature is attained for seven consecutive days.

15. Mr. Ernie Ross

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether the trigger temperature of -1.5 deg. C. for the new severe weather payments scheme will apply where that temperature is attained only for seven consecutive days measured between a Monday and the following Sunday.

The Minister for Social Security (Mr. John Major)

The test will be based on the average temperature over the seven-day period. It is not a condition that each day in the period has to satisfy the temperature criterion.

Mr. Michie

As many people still feel that they will lose out next winter, can the Minister tell the House in how many of the past 30 winters the criterion has been met? Secondly, do the Government expect to spend more, or less, on the scheme this winter than was spent last winter?

Mr. Major

The criterion would certainly have been met in almost every winter within living memory. The effect of these regulations is to ensure that the criteria may be met in areas of the country that may be especially cold. It will therefore deliver the most help to people in most need in the coldest parts of the country.

Mr. Ross

Can the Minister confirm that, nevertheless, if the weather is cold enough in one week to meet the Government's criterion, and that week runs from Wednesday to Wednesday, no one will be paid?

Mr. Major

If the cold weather lasts from a Wednesday to a Wednesday, it is equally likely that it would trigger not one week but two weeks' payment. The hon. Gentleman should bear that in mind.

Mr. Michael Morris

Is my hon. Friend aware that the new, simplified scheme is much to be welcomed? However, will he think again about the capital allowance of only £500, when today's average funeral costs £700? Is £500 not too low a figure?

Mr. Major

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his first remark. With regard to the £500 cut-off period for single payment, this has been a stable part of our system for some years and I have no immediate proposal to change it. My hon. Friend will be aware of the changes proposed in funeral payments in the Social Security Act 1986.

Mr. Ward

My hon. Friend will be aware of the great welcome for the simplified scheme. He will also be aware that it will lead to short-term demands on DHSS offices. Is he satisfied that there will be enough staff to cope with these short-term demands?

Mr. Major

We are concluding a complement review to match staffing to the needs of the public. I am bound to add that my right hon. Friend also inserted an extra 5,000 staff earlier this year to meet the special pressures that exist in local offices.

Mr. Meacher

Is the Minister aware that the Government's proposals on cold weather payments are even more restrictive than last year's farce, when 22,000 more elderly people died than in the previous winter? Is he aware that if the minus 1.5 degree temperature rule had applied last winter, bitterly cold though it was, two thirds of the country would have been excluded? Is he also aware that, by limiting payments to those with less than £500 in the bank, he is excluding the vast majority of the poorest pensioners on supplementary benefit? When will the Government learn that the tragic death toll from hypothermia will never be halted as long as the Government are more interested in erecting trip wires to exclude the great majority of those who are most vulnerable?

Mr. Major

The hon. Gentleman, typically, clearly does not understand the system. Nor does he appear to acknowledge that this is but a small part of the overall help available. I am bound to say to the hon. Gentleman that the amounts available for heating, through the supplementary benefit scale rates, the heating additions and special payments are substantially higher than anything the previous Labour Government ever contemplated.