HAMPSHIRE AND DORSET MPS PRESS TREASURY ON NAOMI HOUSE

9.25.00am GMT Fri 5th Dec 2008

Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne and other Hampshire and Dorset MPs raised the issue of Naomi House's lost funds in the Commons and sought help from the Treasury Minister.

Chris Huhne said that Naomi House did great work both in providing respite for the families of terminally-ill children and in supporting them through outreach, but this was put in jeopardy by the freezing of £5.7 million of reserves in an Icelandic bank.

Mr Huhne pressed the Treasury Minister, Angela Eagle, to look at support for charities like Naomi House that received public money because they perform a service that would otherwise have to be provided by the health service. Mr Huhne pointed out that Naomi House is receiving £330,000 this year from public funds.

Ms Eagle was concerned that if the Treasury helped one such charity, it could not avoid helping others, but she would look at the proposed distinction.

Winchester MP Mark Oaten told the minister that the primary care trust would probably have to fund much of the work that Naomi House do if it were not able to do so, which put the charity in a different category to others.

The plight of Naomi House, the hospice for terminally ill children, which has had £5.7 million of its reserves frozen in an Icelandic bank, was highlighted in a debate called by Basingstoke MP Maria Miller. Mark Hoban, from Fareham, and Oliver Letwin, from Dorset West, also spoke in the debate.