In caring, 21st-century Scotland, 29 people died every day from the cold last winter

Published on Tuesday 13 October 2009 22:05

A RECORD increase in the number of winter deaths last year has sparked concerns that elderly people are not being properly protected from the cold.

According to figures released yesterday, in the four winter months of 2008-9 a total of 20,532 people died compared to 19,900 the year before.

The number of deaths in 2008-9 was around 3,500 more than the four month periods either side of winter, representing the highest seasonal rise since 1999-2000.

The death toll has been seized on as evidence that since taking power the SNP have failed to put in measures to help people on low incomes stay warm.

There was also anger from opposition parties that the General Register of Scotland which published the results had described the increases as being part of a "downward trend" which was branded as being "complacent".

Labour pointed out that in a recent parliamentary answer housing Minister Alex Neil revealed that the SNP Government's Energy Assistance Package has delivered just 173 central heating installations since it began in April.

Labour claimed that this compared to more than 100,000 homes with new central heating systems provided in their central heating programme when they were in government.

Labour's Mary Mulligan said: "It is simply unacceptable that people in 21st century Scotland should be dying in winter because they don't have adequate heating."

But the numbers resulted in calls for the Scottish Government to look again at a Green Party scheme to provide thousands of homes with free insulation which would save on energy bills and prevent heat from escaping.

Green MSP Patrick Harvie said: "These figures are deeply saddening, and represent a substantial amount of unnecessary suffering and grief across Scotland. We know that many of these deaths are associated with older people living in cold damp homes, properties which are expensive to heat and barely insulated."

Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur added: "Earlier this month Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon insisted that nothing more needed to be done to improve energy efficiency and reduce fuel poverty in Scotland. These figures show just how complacent and misguided that attitude is."

However, health secretary Nicola Sturgeon agreed that it was "unacceptable" that winter should bring with it higher death rates.

She added: "While I welcome the Registrar General's conclusion that the long-term trend is still downward, it concerns me that additional deaths increased last winter.

"We are determined to do all we can to drive down excess winter death rates. Winter can be particularly harsh in Scotland and last year was colder than the year before."

She said a record number of central heating systems were installed through Energy Assistance Package last year. "These are difficult times and we are doing all we can to help people avoid fuel poverty," she added.