The Rt. Hon. Sir John Major KG CH

Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 1990-1997

1983-1987 Parliament

Mr Major’s Written Parliamentary Answer on Severe Weather Payments – 28 November 1986

admin

Below is the text of Mr Major’s written Parliamentary Answer on Severe Weather Payments on 28th November 1986.

Mr. Baldry Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services what is the present formula for making extreme weather payments; whether he has any proposals to make changes to the formula; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Major I refer my hon. Friend to my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Dumfries (Sir H. Monro) on 20 November, at columns 326-27. The current arrangements for exceptionally severe weather payments are described in the report on the new arrangements by the Social Security Advisory Committee (Cm. 18).

Mr. Gordon Brown Asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will explain why temperatures calculated for the exceptionally severe weather allowance for the Cowdenbeath area are to be calculated at Turnhouse airport.

Mr. Major National climatological message stations (NCMs) have been linked to local office areas in consultation with the Meteorological Office taking account of factors such as climatological conditions, the reliability of information produced and the speed with which information could be passed onto the Meteorological Office.

Meteorological data collected by the Turnhouse (Edinburgh Airport) NCM is considered to be the more representative of conditions in the area including Cowdenbeath area. This station is nearer to Cowdenbeath than the Tummel bridge station.