00:00We've got to work very closely with our citizens to make sure that everyone who's eligible for pension credit is able to access pension credit,
00:08which will then enable them to access the winter fuel heating payment.
00:12We didn't want to take this decision. This decision was taken for us by the United Kingdom Government,
00:17who abruptly, with very little notice, decided to end the provision of winter fuel payments.
00:23The consequence of that for Scotland is a cut in our budget of £160 million,
00:28and we just don't have the money to replace those resources that are a consequence of the cut by the UK Government.
00:35So we'll work constructively with people in Scotland to make sure we can maximise eligibility for the winter fuel payment,
00:43but I would much prefer to be in a situation where we were able to maintain the payments as they are,
00:48but we can't do that because of UK Government decisions.
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