§ Sir Hector MonroTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what progress he has made in reviewing the weather station linkages in the cold weather payments scheme.
§ Mr. ScottI am pleased to inform my hon. Friend that in response to representations made to me and subsequent detailed consultation with the Met Office, I will lay regulations well before the onset of winter which will significantly improve the weather station linkages. The changes are as follows.
The high-lying villge of Eskdalemuir is to be linked to the Eskdalemuir weather station instead of the low-lying warmer station at Dumfries. The high-lying area surrounding the villages of Wanlockhead-Leadhills, near Dumfries, are also to be linked to Eskdalemuir weather station instead of to Dumfries. The northern part of the district of Clydesdale, which is currently linked to Dumfries weather station, and the whole of the district of Motherwell, which is currently linked to Edinburgh weather station, will be linked to the weather station at Glasgow. The area surrounding Honiton and Axminster in Exeter, currently linked to the weather station at Chivenor, will be linked instead to a higher lying weather station at Dunkeswell. The latter station has not previously been used in our scheme. The areas surrounding the town of Kyle, presently linked to Kinloss weather station, and around Kyleakin, currently linked to Fort William, will be linked instead to the weather station at Tiree, which is also new to our scheme, replacing Fort William.
Further changes in linkages will be made to improve climatological representation in the coastal area of the Borders Region, which includes parts of Ettrick and Lauderdale, Roxburgh, and Berwickshire—the towns of Kelso, Eyemouth, Duns and Coldstream. These areas are currently linked to Esdkdalemuir weather station, and will be linked to Boulmer weather station. A strip of the south coast of England, including the towns of Romsey, Totton, Lymington, Brockenhurst, Lyndhurst, Chichester, and Bognor Regis, linked variously to Herstmonceux, Boscome Down, and Bournemouth weather stations, will be linked to Southampton weather station.
We will also further improve the sensitivity of the scheme to local conditions by linking entitlement to postcode areas. This will also allow automatic payments to be made.
Finally, the Blackpool, Exeter, and Fort William weather stations are to be removed from the scheme. The first two have closed, and the last is no longer considered reliable. Tiree weather station will be included to replace Fort William; Chivenor station will absorb the area previously covered by Exeter except for the area to be covered by Dunkeswell weather station; and the Blackpool linkages are to be shared between the Eskmeals, Carlisle, and Aughton stations. This will leave a total of 63 stations in place of the current total of 64 in Great Britain.
In addition to these changes, the linkages will continue to be monitored and further amendments introduced where appropriate.