I am very grateful for that intervention, because it precisely anticipates the next paragraph of my speech, which is about that point. People in rural areas who do not have access to mains gas depend on other forms of heating- mostly oil, but sometimes liquefied petroleum gas or some other alternative.

I was surprised by the figures on the issue. They might be incorrect and the Minister might have more accurate ones, but my information is that 1.5 million households do not have access to mains gas and 1 million of those households are in Scotland, which is a much more rural country. The rest are probably in Norfolk-I do not know. [Laughter.]

The cost of heating fuel for someone who is not on the gas mains is, on average, a third higher than for someone who is on the gas mains. I have been a Member of the House for rather a long time and when British Gas was being privatised, I served on the Committee scrutinising the Bill that privatised it, which became the Gas Act 1986. I also got involved in a stand-up, dragged-out row with Sir Denis Rooke-not a difficult thing to do-on behalf of my constituents at the time, because the gas mains were not being extended. As a result of that row, I got significant gas mains extension in several communities across my constituency.

However, I predicted that the privatisation of gas-this issue is about not the ideology of privatisation, but its consequences-would pretty much stop the extension of gas mains to anything other than major new developments, which has happened, although it is somewhat unacceptable.

In that context, if the Government are unable to do more to ensure the extension of gas mains-I would add that, even if they do ensure that extension, a lot of properties cannot be put on the mains-I wonder whether they will specifically address the needs of those households that are not on the gas mains.