§ Mr. BattleTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security how many cold weather payments were made and what were the total amounts set out by area for each year since 1983.
§ Mr. Roger EvansThe administration of the cold weather payments scheme is a matter for Mr. Michael Bichard, the chief executive of the Benefits Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Michael Bichard to John Battle, dated 15 December 1994:
835WThe Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about Cold Weather Payments.Social Fund Cold Weather Payments were introduced in April 1988. For the years 1988/89 and 1989/90 the information you have requested is in the Statistical Holdings section of the Library.From 1990/91 to 1993/94 the information is not held in the format you requested. It is, however, available in the Library broken down by Benefit Office for 1990/91 to 1992/93 and by District Office for 1993/94.Prior to the introduction of the Social Fund, payments for cold weather were made at local management discretion under Regulation 26 of the Single Payments Regulations. Information by area is not held and the table below shows the total number of payments nationally in this period and the cost.
Total number of cold weather payments Cost 1983–84 NIL — 1984–85 170,0001 £1.7M 1985–86 450,000 £11.6M 1986–87 2,000,000 £10.2M 1987–88 99,000 £0.5M
I hope you find my reply helpful.