asked Her Majesty’s Government:

When they will extend winter fuel payments to disabled people who require additional heating in order to manage their impairment.

My Lords, we have no plans to extend winter fuel payments to disabled people aged under 60. Help is already available through disability benefits and the disability premium in income-related benefits in recognition of the extra costs, including heating, which disabled people may have.

My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that reply. Is he aware that the Government cannot lose on this issue because they are fighting disabled people who are not able to fight for themselves? It is a very easy victory for the Government. On the other hand, the Government cannot win in this situation because when they refuse payments to disabled people that is noted, not only by disabled people, but also by the general public. The public tend to judge disabled people’s reactions and are disconcerted by what is happening. Does my noble friend agree that the best thing now is for the Government to change their tack and make certain that the allowance is given to disabled people—because without it, they are suffering quite considerably?

My Lords, I acknowledge my noble friend’s disappointment with my reply, but the winter fuel payments were created to reassure pensioners that they could afford to heat their homes in winter. That is why they have been targeted. He will know that 60 per cent of those receiving DLA or attendance allowance are aged 60 or over and automatically receive winter fuel payments in any event. Notwithstanding the rising cost of energy, which has presented a real challenge, a severely disabled person can get more than £150 per week extra in benefit, including the disability premium and income support. We are concerned about the impact of high fuel prices on vulnerable people and have been encouraging energy suppliers to adopt initiatives to reduce the impact of price rises on the most vulnerable.

My Lords, I declare an interest, having a daughter in her 40s who is in receipt of the higher rate disability living allowance. She tells me that if you are disabled and trying to live independently you need warmth more than if you are a non-disabled person. I have put this point to the Minister before and he said he would consider it, but now I gather that the answer is no. Will he tell me more about how easy it is to get help?

My Lords, as I said a moment ago, the disability benefits and DLA were created to ensure that the additional costs that disabled people inevitably face can be supported and that the money can be spent as they feel most appropriate. Regarding the additional support, as I said, we have been working with the energy companies to encourage them to put more resources into vulnerable households. There are challenges about information flows to enable appropriate targeting, and we hope that there will be some developments on that shortly.

Individuals on income support or jobseeker’s allowance who have a disability premium or a disabled child can get cold weather payments when the weather turns particularly cold. Furthermore, 48 per cent of disabled people of working age are in work, and part of the Government’s strategy to help people out of poverty, including fuel poverty, is to support people to get into employment and to ensure that work pays.

My Lords, does the Minister agree that we have had this discussion several times and that it always comes down to the fact that there is a small group of the disabled who have difficulty generating sufficient heat within their own bodies but are not taken as part of the mainstream of disability benefits? Surely the Government should take another look to see whether they can address that problem.

My Lords, I have tried to deal with the points raised. The proposition was that we should target winter fuel payments to disabled people and I have explained why, in our view, that is not an appropriate basis for targeting that resource. Warm Front, which the Government are supporting, has, through energy-efficiency measures, helped more than 1.6 million households benefit from advice and the installation of central heating. People in receipt of qualifying disability benefits can be eligible for grants of up to £2,700, or £4,000 where oil heating is recommended. We spent £2 billion on winter fuel payments in 2007-8 and, since 2000, £20 billion has been spent on fuel poverty benefits and programmes to tackle fuel poverty.

My Lords, were the needs of the disabled considered at the recent fuel poor summit? As that important conference was aimed mainly at what the fuel industries could do to help the fuel poor, when will the Government be able to announce their arrangements for ensuring that the companies know who they really have to help?

My Lords, the summit covered a range of issues but focused on working with the industries to encourage them to do more. We said in Budget 2008 that we would like to see the amount that energy suppliers spend on social programmes increase to at least £150 million and I think that six major energy suppliers have signed up to that. As the noble Lord has indicated, there are issues about providing information to support identification of vulnerable households. That is not without its difficulties, because of data protection and other sorts of issues, but it is being actively addressed and we hope to be able to move forward on that quite soon.

My Lords, does the Minister not agree that it is a scandal that, in this day and age, anybody is living in fuel poverty?

My Lords, we do not want to see anybody living in poverty, fuel poverty or otherwise. This Government have done a good deal to make sure that people have been removed from child poverty, pensioner poverty and fuel poverty. It is undoubtedly a continuing challenge, particularly with the current fuel increases. However, just in the Budget last year a further £50 in winter fuel payments was announced for people aged between 60 and 79, and £100 for people aged 80 and over. Those were increases of 25 and 33 per cent respectively, which is one way of helping people in poverty. It is a constant challenge, but I believe that we, as a Government, have a good record in tackling poverty right across the piece.

My Lords, would not one way of helping people who find meeting energy costs difficult be to reduce the taxes that the Government have increased on fuel? For example, around 8 per cent of the average electricity bill consists of the renewables obligation; there are also the increased taxes on oil that have been allowed. Given energy costs, would the Government not like to review the tax regimes in order to reduce the real cost to people of paying to heat their homes?

My Lords, it is all very well to propose reductions in taxes here, there and everywhere, but the noble Lord has to say where additional taxation would come from to replace that lost revenue or what programmes would be cut to make sure that the budget can be sustained.

My Lords, the Minister said that the Government have no plans to accede to the wish of the noble Lord, Lord Ashley of Stoke. Does that mean that no policy work whatever is going on in the department?

No, my Lords, of course it does not. The noble Lord is well aware that a whole range of policy initiatives is going on, right across the DWP’s responsibilities, and that we have had four pieces of legislation in the past 18 months. There are lots of policy developments, focused particularly on poverty—child poverty, fuel poverty and pensioner poverty—to make sure that the Government can sustain their good record.