§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Nottingham, South (Mr. Simpson), on 18 January 2001,Official Report, column 294W, on fuel poor households, if he will estimate on the same basis the number of fuel poor households in each nation and region of the United Kingdom in 1996. [147247]
Government Office region (a) Income including Housing Benefit and Income Support for Mortgage Interest (£000) (b) Income excluding Housing Benefit and Income Support for Mortgage interest (£000) (c) Income excluding housing expenditure (£000) North East 330 370 470 Yorkshire and Humberside 560 650 770 West Midlands 550 640 820 North West 700 890 1,080 South West 440 520 710 East Midlands 360 440 560 Greater London 480 670 930 Eastern 360 450 630 South East 450 580 830 England (£ million) 24.3 25.3 26.8 1 Assumes fuel costs include those for non-heating purposes. 2 Due to the manner in which these data are processed and rounded, the total reported nationally differs very slightly from the sum of the individual regions. Fuel poverty is a devolved matter and it is the responsibility of the respective Parliament and Assemblies to comment on the situation in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.