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The Budget

The right hon. Gentleman knows that the decision on the winter fuel allowance was taken by the previous Government and set in place by their Budget before the election. We have stuck to those plans, and we announced that at the time of the spending review—it is not a new announcement in this Budget. We have also set in place a new Warm Homes bonus scheme, administered by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, which will mean for the poorest pensioners an initial average of about £120 off their bills. That is alongside the decision to uprate the basic state pension in line with earnings, which will deliver lasting benefits to pensioners. Also, as announced in the Budget, we will publish a Green Paper on state pension reform, to put in place a single-tier pension to ensure that, subject to the consultation, in years to come most new pensioners will not have a means-tested regime.