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12.16 pm
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. George Kynoch): I join in congratulating the hon. Member for Banff and Buchan (Mr. Salmond) on securing this Adjournment debate, but that is probably all on which I will congratulate him. I am pleased to have the opportunity to respond on the Government's behalf to this interesting debate. The many good contributions have generally recognised the significant efforts made by many people during a period of severe cold weather.
The hon. Member for Glasgow, Shettleston (Mr. Marshall) spoke about housing problems and insurance, to which I hope to refer later. The hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr. Wallace), whose remarks I welcome, is aware of the communication links that were regularly provided between central and local government. I am grateful also for the hon. Gentleman's recognition that we must learn, so as to do things better in future.
My hon. Friend the Member for North Tayside (Mr. Walker) gave one of his usual positive and pragmatic speeches. He clearly understands the realities of difficult situations. He believes not in knocking but in being constructive and finding ways forward. I welcomed his contribution.
The hon. Member for Hamilton (Mr. Robertson) spoke about the assistance sought by local authorities, and the Bellwin formula. It is up to local authorities to prepare details of their costs. I will refer to that aspect later.
I assure all hon. Members that the Government fully appreciate the concerns and distress produced by a dreadful combination of severe weather, starting in Shetland over Christmas and spreading to the whole country over the Hogmanay period. I join my hon. Friend the Member for North Tayside in commending the many people in power companies, local authorities and emergency services, whose unstinting efforts over the holiday period helped to restore essential services as quickly as weather conditions allowed. They were the most severe encountered since 1963--the most severe weather before then being in 1947.
The penetrating frost between 27 and 30 December caused many parts of plumbing systems within domestic and commercial premises--I stress commercial premises-- to freeze. That is not surprising, given the record low temperatures. The consequences were exacerbated by the holiday period. That factor had a marked effect, especially on industrial and commercial premises. Many domestic, commercial and industrial premises were unoccupied, with heating systems set at low levels. In some instances, those systems were switched off.
Commonsense precautions for individuals and businesses could well have had a beneficial effect in reducing some of the problems. The recent mild winters have perhaps lulled people into a false sense of security about severe weather and led them to omit some of the basic steps that I remember were taken in my youth, such as draining systems that might otherwise be unprotected from frost over the holiday closedown.
I can remember that we regularly used to shut down the water supply in the factory. The sprinkler system, which was there to protect against fire by insurance demand, was changed to a compressed air system during frosty weather. Perhaps we have been lulled into forgetting about severe conditions. It is more than 20 years since there have been frosts approaching the severity of those of the recent past.
The hon. Member for Banff and Buchan referred to a Central Office of Information film, which was produced about 12 years ago. My hon. Friend the Member for North Tayside rightly said that since then conditions have changed significantly, including the insulation of properties, and that the film is no longer in date.
I hope that, when the review body that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has announced comes to consider the lessons that can be learnt, it will take into account specifically communications, and the warnings that can be given to the general public. My right hon. Friend has said that we could seriously consider producing an updated film if the media were to revert to previous practice and regularly showed such films.
Responsibility for emergency planning lies with regional authorities--of that there is little doubt. Throughout the period that we are discussing, however, my right hon. and hon. Friends in the Scottish Office team have been in steady and regular contact, through the emergency planning section in the Scottish Office, with all the local authorities.
The hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland referred to a typical contact that we had with a local authority. We asked the authority whether it needed assistance, and if so what assistance. The military was one option. Throughout, no local authority asked for assistance. I would argue that no authority needed assistance because they were coping so admirably.
Water authorities, of course, have well-established procedures for dealing with burst mains. Generally, authorities mobilised their repair squads quickly as soon as the situation developed, and were usually able to effect repairs to damaged pipes, and restore supply, within 24 hours of a burst being detected.
The authorities' chief concern was the consequences of the massive loss of water through burst pipes, not in their mains but in customers' plumbing systems when the thaw arrived. We know that the thaw was dramatically quick. Overnight flow rates trebled and remained at more than 150 per cent. of normal demand for several days.
Levels in reservoirs, as I heard and saw in Grampian, fell rapidly, and the minimum pressure necessary to maintain supplies to all consumers could not be sustained in some areas. Inevitably, properties in elevated positions, or those at the end of systems or close to a major burst, were most affected.
When I visited the operational headquarters in Grampian, I was told about one industrial leakage that was the equivalent of the normal consumption of about 7,000 houses. That is why the water authorities cut off industrial premises, which were largely closed. When work resumed after the Christmas-new year period, the water supply was restored as quickly as possible. Massive industrial leakages were a major problem for water authorities.
Mr. Salmond:
I shall make only one intervention, because time is short. The Minister has conceded that there is a need for a public information film. Media representatives to whom I have spoken have told me that they would be delighted to show such a film, given their experience.
When it comes to insurance, whether it be for councils which were not insured or for individuals, will the Minister tell the House that he will not adopt the argument of the hon. Member for North Tayside (Mr. Walker) and say that nothing can be done because other people were insured? That is not what Scotland would want, given the extremity of the conditions that were faced by everyone over the past few weeks.
Mr. Kynoch:
The hon. Gentleman should have been patient, because I intended to refer to the difficult position of domestic customers.
All the authorities took what steps they could to try to ensure that domestic customers were protected in the first instance. Industry was closed over the relevant period. I emphasise again that emergency planning is a regional council responsibility. The authorities were stretched, but they did not ask for assistance. They were constantly offered it by myself and my ministerial colleagues. The authorities were in the forefront in dealing with the emergency, and I stress that I believe that they performed commendably.
The Government are aware that thousands of Scottish householders in both the public and private sectors have been affected, mainly as a result of burst pipes. Local housing authorities and other agencies responded vigorously, both to the problems in their council houses and by securing temporary accommodation for those made homeless. I am aware that all public sector landlords are working as hard as they can to bring affected houses back into habitable condition as soon as possible, to end the ordeal of those who have had to leave their homes.
Our understanding from initial discussions with some of the authorities affected is that they are currently assessing the damage to their stock, and are unlikely to be able precisely to quantify the costs involved for some time. It is obviously important that they produce quantifiable information. Once that information is available, my hon. Friend the Minister with responsibilities for housing has expressed his willingness to meet the housing committee of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. He has said that he will consider the authorities' problems sympathetically.
For the most part, the cost of repairs to council houses will initially fall to be met from councils' housing revenue accounts. My hon. Friend the Minister with responsibilities for housing took this factor into account in distributing supplementary housing capital allocations totalling £16.8 million last week to 30 housing authorities facing housing capital receipt shortfalls in the current financial year. My hon. Friend is aware of the problems and has been in steady discussions with the authorities.
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