Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many times cold weather payments have been made to residents of the FK11 postcode area in each of the last five years.

The Cold Weather Payment scheme is administered at weather station level rather than any other standard GB geography such as postcode level. The coverage area for each weather station is determined by the Met Office which assesses the most appropriate weather station for each postcode area, which may change between years. Cold weather payments are triggered when the average temperature has been recorded as, or is forecast to be 0^oC or below over seven consecutive days.

The postcode areas of FK10, FK11 and KY13 have been assigned to the Edinburgh Gogarbank and Strathallan weather stations as follows:

FK10: assigned to the Edinburgh Gogerbank weather station

FK11: assigned to the Strathallan weather station

KY13: assigned to the Edinburgh Gogerbank weather station in the years 2009/10 to 2012/13 and to the Strathallan weather station in 2013/14.

Table 1 gives the number of triggers for the last five years at these weather stations. All eligible recipients will have received a Cold Weather Payment following a trigger at the relevant weather station.

Table 1: Triggers and Payments at Edinburgh Gogarbank and Strathallan weather stations: 2009/10 to 2013/14.