Gas Consumers Council (Hansard, 20 July 1994)

§ 5. Mr. Cummings
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what evaluation he has made of the impact of the reduction in the Gas Consumers Council's budget in the months of April, May and June on its safety advisory services to senior citizens and others.

§ 10. Mr. McKelvey
To ask the President of the Board of Trade what assessment he has made of how the reduction in the Gas Consumers Council's budget will affect its service to (a) people with disabilities and (b) others.

§ Mr. Eggar
The Gas Consumers Council has indicated that it will continue to be able to carry out all its functions including services to the disabled and to senior citizens.

§ Mr. Cummings
Is the Minister aware that, as a result of the cuts, the Gas Consumers Council will not be able to afford to reprint its leaflets on gas safety? That is happening at a time when many elderly people have defective gas appliances. Is it not both a folly and a disgrace to remove those resources from the leading organisation responsible for informing customers of gas safety?

§ Mr. Eggar
I am not aware of any proposals by the GCC to cut back on its literature, whether relating to safety or otherwise—

§ Mr. Nigel Griffiths
It is a disgrace.

§ Mr. Eggar
Is the hon. Member for Edinburgh, South (Mr. Griffiths) really suggesting that the Government should not seek in any way to control expenditure on the GCC? Is it alone to be exempted from expenditure restrictions?

§ Mr. McKelvey
Does not the Minister understand that, of the £209,000 savings, only £2,000 will be saved by the Department of Trade and Industry? In fact, we have spent that. £2,000 by asking these two questions. The other £207,000 will be savings for the gas people. Can we have a guarantee that that £207,000 will not go into the hip pocket of the chairman of British Gas?

§ Mr. Eggar
At the end of the day, additional costs to British Gas effectively mean that consumers have to pay more for their gas. The Government have a duty to restrict expenditure, in an equal way, across the consumer bodies as a whole. There is no reason why the GCC should be exempted from that.

§ Mr. Nigel Griffiths
Why does not the Minister simply tell the House the truth? If he speaks to Captain Ian Powe, who heads the GCC—which the hon. Gentleman obviously has not done—Captain Powe will tell him that he is no longer able to reproduce the key gas safety leaflets for tenants, senior citizens and others advising them about the perils of gas and of not maintaining gas appliances.
Why will not the Minister be frank with the House and say that the Government have cut the GCC's budget by £209,000, that they have done so because the Treasury demanded it, that consumers will get a poorer deal and that old-age pensioners, tenants and others with gas supplies will now get a far poorer service? Why does not the hon. Gentleman tell us the truth for once?

§ Mr. Eggar
Scaremongering may come naturally to the hon. Gentleman, but it does not make a sensible contribution to an important discussion. My understanding is that the Gas Consumer Council is fully confident of being able to carry out all its functions.

§ Mr. Cummings
Not true.

§ Mr. Eggar
It is true. But, like other consumer councils, it is having to absorb a small reduction in its budget. It is right that it should have to restrict public expenditure as do similar bodies.