Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential effect on the public purse of taking into account wind-chill in determining eligibility for cold weather payments.
Wind chill is the perception of external temperature rather than a measured air temperature. Cold Weather Payments are designed to contribute to the additional costs of heating homes in unseasonably cold weather. As wind chill relates to skin rather than buildings, no assessment has been made of the effect of taking wind chill into account for Cold Weather Payments.