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Benefits Uprating

May I direct the Minister’s attention to pensioners and council tax? He appears to avoid questions on the matter or to avoid responding positively to them. Does he share with me and many Members on both sides of the House—not least his hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne, Central (Jim Cousins), who has just contributed a question—the concern that elderly people feel that they have to risk going to prison for non-payment of council tax because they can no longer meet the huge council tax rises that have taken place? Is the Minister saying that the problem is dealt with in his benefits uprating statement, or are we to see more retired people in court, risking prison, because they cannot pay their council tax?