§ Mr. GrieveTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if she will make a statement on the(a) number of and (b) trends in excess winter deaths in Scotland since May 1997. [145663]
§ Mrs. LiddellThe collection of statistics on excess winter deaths in Scotland is a devolved matter.
Fuel poverty contributes to the number of excess winter deaths among pensioners. The UK Government and the Scottish Executive have been working together to tackle fuel poverty and the Government and the devolved Administrations recently published a UK Fuel Poverty Strategy. The Government have taken direct action to help older households with their fuel bills by increasing the Winter Fuel Allowance to £200. The Allowance is paid to over 700,000 eligible households in Scotland. We have also taken other action, such as reducing the level of VAT on domestic fuel to 5 per cent.