§ Mr. Meacherasked the Secretary of State for Social Services for how many weeks running from Monday to Sunday in each of the last seven years each of the 64 weather station areas recorded a O°C temperature.
§ Mr. MajorThere are 63 designated weather stations which provide data for the exceptionally cold weather payments scheme. The information requested for each of these appears in the following table:
791W
Number of weeks (Monday–Sunday) when mean weekly temperature reached or was lower than 0° Celcius Weather station 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 Scotland Aberdeen Airport 0 0 5 0 2 2 3 Dumfries n/a n/a n/a n/a 0 2 1 Edinburgh Airport 0 0 5 0 2 2 3 Eskdalemuir (Galashiels) 3 2 5 1 2 4 7 Fort William n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 2 2 Glasgow Airport 0 0 5 0 1 3 3 Kinloss (Inverness) 0 0 4 0 2 2 4 Kirkwall 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 Lerwick 1 1 2 0 0 1 0 Leuchars (Dundee) 0 0 5 0 1 2 3 Machrihanish (Campbeltown) 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 Prestwick (Ayr) 0 0 4 0 0 3 2 Stornoway 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 Whithorn n/a 0 1 0 0 1 0 Wick 1 1 2 0 1 1 1 England Aughton (Liverpool) 0 0 4 0 0 3 3 Bedford RAE n/a 0 5 2 1 3 4 Binbrook (Hull) 0 0 4 1 1 3 4 Birmingham Airport n/a n/a 5 2 1 3 4 Blackpool Airport 0 0 4 0 0 3 2 Boscombe Down (Sarum) 0 0 3 0 0 3 4 Boulmer (Berwick) 0 0 3 0 0 0 1 Bournemouth Airport 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 Bristol n/a n/a 1 0 0 2 2 Brize Norton (Oxford) 1 0 4 0 0 3 4 Carlisle 0 0 5 1 0 3 2 Chivenor (Barnstaple) n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 2 n/a Coltishall (Norwich) 0 0 3 0 0 3 4 Coningsby (Boston) 0 0 4 0 1 3 4 Culdrose (Penzance) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 East Hampstead 0 0 3 0 0 3 4 Eskmeals (Whitehaven) 0 0 2 0 0 1 1 Exeter 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 Finningley (Sheffield) 0 0 5 0 2 2 4 Gatwick Airport (Guildford) 0 0 3 0 0 3 4 Heathrow Airport (London) 0 0 3 0 0 3 3 Herstmonceux (Brighton) 0 0 0 0 0 3 4 Honington (Bury St. Edmunds) 0 0 4 1 0 4 4 Leeds Weather Centre n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 2 Leeming (Newcastle) 0 0 5 0 1 3 5 Lyneham (Chippenham) 0 0 4 2 0 3 4 Manchester Airport 0 0 4 0 0 3 2 Mansion (Dover) 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 Marham (Kings Lynn) n/a n/a n/a n/a 0 3 4 Mount Batten (Plymouth) 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 Okehampton 1 0 1 2 0 3 4 St. Mawgan (Truro) 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 Shawbury (Shrewsbury) 0 0 5 2 0 3 4 Southampton Weather Centre 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 Stanstead 0 0 4 0 0 3 4 Tynemouth (Sunderland) 0 0 4 0 0 0 1 Watnall (Derby) 0 0 5 2 1 3 4 Wattisham (Ipswich) 0 0 3 1 0 4 4 Whitby Coastguard 0 0 2 0 0 1 n/a Wyton (Cambridge) 0 0 5 1 1 3 4 Yeovilton (Yeovil) 0 0 1 0 0 3 3 Wales Aberporth (Aberystwyth) 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 Brawdy (Pembroke) 0 0 1 0 0 2 4 Cilfynydd (Merthyr Tydfil) n/a n/a 3 2 0 3 4 Mumbles (Swansea) 0 n/a 0 0 0 2 0 Rhoose (Cardiff) 0 0 1 0 0 3 4 Trawsfynydd (Dolgellau) 1 0 3 1 0 n/a 4 Valley (Caernarfon) 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 n/a = Data not available.
§ Mr. Kirkwoodasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) whether he will estimate the additional annual cost of extending the qualifying categories for severe
792Wweather payments to include all pensioners who are currently in receipt of any financial support from the housing benefit scheme;
793W(2) whether he will estimate the additional annual cost of raising the trigger temperature of severe weather payments from minus 1.5 degrees Celsius to zero degrees Celsius;
(3) whether he will estimate the cost of dispensing with the capital limit of £500 and paying severe weather payments to all pensioners in receipt of either supplementary pensions or payment of any housing benefit;
(4) whether he will estimate the cost of paying severe weather payments to all supplementary pensioners without the present application for heating having to be completed.
§ Mr. MajorIt is not possible to make a reliable estimate of the annual cost of amending the scheme since actual costs will depend on the number of weather stations at which, and for how many weeks, the qualifying temperature is reached in any particular year.
If the scheme were amended to include all pensioners in receipt of standard or certificated housing benefit, with no £500 capital limit, the number in the qualifying groups would increase from approximately 1½ million to approximately 4½ million. This figure includes supplementary pensioner householders with capital in excess of £500.