§ Mr. Roy Hughesasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will authorise local offices of his Department to meet the cost of installation of water meters at the homes of the needy single householders, which could considerably reduce the cost of their water supplies.
§ Mr. NewtonNo. For those dependent on supplementary benefit, full provision is made for their water charges, whether their water supply is metered or not. There is no provision in the supplementary benefit regulations to pay for the cost of installing water meters and I have no plans260W at present to introduce such a provision. I will however be looking at the effect of the new arrangements for optional water metering for domestic consumers and will reconsider the supplementary benefit position in due course if this becomes necessary.