§ Mr. BreedTo ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people(a) received and (b) were eligible to receive the winter fuel payment in (i) 1999, (ii) 2000 and (iii) 2001 broken down by (A) gender and (B) constituency. [38336]
§ Malcolm Wicks[holding answer 28 February 2002]: Information is available only on the number of people who received winter fuel payments. Details of the number of recipients in winters 1999–2000 and 2000–01, broken down by sex and constituency, have been placed in the Library. Numbers relating to this winter are not yet available.
The figures for 1999–2000 exclude men aged 60–64 (and a small number of others) who became eligible for winter fuel payments from 2000–01 onwards. These people are entitled to claim retrospectively for previous years and the majority have already done so. Unfortunately it is not possible to relate these claims to specific years.