 Neighbours in Salterton Road, Tooting, raised the alarm |
The health minister has denied claims that data protection laws were to blame because social services were not told that an elderly couple had their gas cut off. The bodies of George Bates, 89, and his 86-year-old wife Gertrude were found in a decomposed state at the south London house they had shared for 64 years.
Their gas supply had been cut off in October because a �140 bill had not been paid.
British Gas claimed that the Data Protection Act stopped them from passing information on the disconnection to the authorities.
But Health Minister Stephen Ladyman claimed the Act contained nothing which would have prohibited the company from doing so.
"The suspicion that somebody is vulnerable and perhaps could do with a visit from social services does not seem to me to be a protectable piece of information under the Act. My instinct is they could have told social services they were worried," he told the BBC.
But he said he would be reviewing the situation.
Mr Ladyman added the government had made strenuous efforts to persuade elderly people to keep warm.
He said there were schemes to help people insulate and draught proof their homes but getting the message across was harder here than in countries with a colder climate.
On Monday, coroner Dr Paul Knapman recorded a verdict of death by natural causes.
He told the inquest he would contact the Information Commissioner after hearing that British Gas had not passed on the Bates' details to social services because they believed they were banned from doing so under that Data Protection Act.
Baroness Greengross, former director general of Age Concern England, has also called for confusion about such information to be cleared up.
One-Minute World News 
News services
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
The UK's inability to cope with a bit of cool weather just seems pathetic. 
