Is it not the case that not one single penny will go to any pensioner, however small his income may be, who is not on income support? That will cause tremendous difficulties. Perhaps the Minister saw the story about pensioners in yesterday's Sunday Express. Is it not also the case that, for those who are eligible and who have saved up for their funeral expenses, those savings will be taken into account in the £1,000? That is cruel and should be carefully considered by Ministers.

Is the Minister further aware that this £6 a week—I accept entirely that it is better than nothing—is a miserly sum and will in no way go substantially towards paying gas and electricity bills, about which pensioners are so worried? That is why so many pensioners do not keep their homes adequately heated, but wrap themselves up in blankets. For many of them, winter is just added misery —all winters, let alone the freezing one that we are going through now. Cannot a nation like ours find a more civilised way of helping the elderly through the winter?