Winter Fuel Payment: Northern Ireland

7. Whether she plans to provide additional Barnett consequential funding to the Northern Ireland Executive for the winter fuel payment.

I can reassure the hon. Member that there will be an increase in the Northern Ireland Executive’s funding through the annually managed expenditure forecasting process. This will be confirmed at the autumn Budget in the usual way. More importantly to pensioners in Northern Ireland, he will be aware that in June, the Communities Minister in Northern Ireland confirmed that winter fuel payments will be available in Northern Ireland on the same basis as in England and Wales.

I thank the Minister for that very positive answer. What assessment has been made of the impact of increasing the winter fuel payment in line with inflation? Given the increase in the cost of living, does he believe that current winter fuel payments are up to the standard in terms of how far they will go to support those who are eligible?

Our priority at the moment is to extend eligibility for the winter fuel payment, as the hon. Member and I have discussed on a number of occasions, but obviously that sits within a wider set of support. He will have seen the extension to the warm home discount announced in recent days and the extension of the household support fund. As he is well aware, social security is a transferred policy in Northern Ireland.

Does the Minister agree that it is only because of the Barnett formula and a Labour Government that Scotland—including communities in Stirling and Strathallan—now has record funding of £50 billion this year, and it is deeply concerning that the SNP Government in Scotland have no clear plan to invest this funding properly in Scotland’s NHS, Scotland’s schools and Scotland’s local services?

As so often, my hon. Friend says it all. We have seen record investment in the Scottish Government’s budget, but we do not see waiting lists falling in Scotland, as they are in England and Wales.