HC Deb 16 January 1997 vol 288 c321W
Mr. Winnick

To ask the Prime Minister what visits he made to pensioners on low incomes during the recent cold weather. [11093]

The Prime Minister

I meet pensioners throughout the year. Our commitment to help during periods of cold weather is underlined by the fact that over 5 million cold weather payments worth more than £43 million have been made this winter.

In addition to cold weather payments, the total extra help above normal upratings made available to pensioners on income-related benefits since 1988 is worth around £1.2 billion a year.