§ Lord Broxbourneasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they are satisfied that elderly and infirm persons living alone have sufficient protection against hypothermia in cold weather conditions and whether they will consider means of improving the position.
The Earl of CaithnessWithin the resources available the Government have done a great deal to ensure that the least well off can afford adequate heating. For example, the main weekly rates of supplementary benefit, which are intended to be used to pay for all normal day-to-day expenses including fuel, increased by about 6 per cent. in real terms between November 1978 and November 1984. Heating additions are given to those supplementary benefit claimants who need extra warmth, and we estimate that over 90 per cent. of supplementary pensioners now receive these. The basic rate of heating addition increased by about 20 per cent. in real terms between November 1978 and November 1984 and the Government expect to spend some 400 million on heating additions this financial year, which is about £140 million more in real terms than was spent in 1978–79. There are also practical steps which old people can take to combat the effects of cold, and the leafletWarmth in Winter, published recently by the Health Education Council, contains useful advice on this.