22. Supply the correct form of the verbs given in brackets and perform the role play given below. Fuel Relief for Vulnerable

‘Underfunded by £1,5bn’

Ministers have omitted to publish a Whitehall report (1) _______________ (to warn) them that they will fail by a huge margin to give 2.3 million of the poorest households enough money to keep warm in winter unless they (2) _______________ (to raise) spending by half over the next seven years.

Michael Meacher, the environment minister, and Brian Wilson, the energy minister, received a report from a government advisory body two months ago, (3) _______________ (to warn) that only 800,000 people (4) _______________ (to have) enough help by 2010 – contrary to a government pledge (5) _______________ (to give) in November last year.

Instead, the government’s warm front programme (6) _________ (modal verb) (7) _______________ (to cut) from April next year because of a squeeze on Whitehall spending. A report by the government’s advisory body, (8) _______________ (to see) by the Guardian, says the current £3bn (9) _______________ (to allocate) until 2010 to tackle the problem (10) _____________ (modal verb) (11) _______________ (to rise) to £4.5bn.

Under the Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act 2000, ministers (12) ___________ (modal verb) (13) _______________ (to ensure) that no household (14) _______________ (to live) in fuel poverty by 2016.

Britain has one of the worst rates for winter deaths among the elderly and poor in Europe. It (15) _______________ (to estimate) that between 30,000 and 60,000 people die unnecessarily every winter because they do not have enough money for fuel or live in draughty homes.

MPs and campaigners yesterday condemned the government for (16) _______________ (to keep) the report secret, and for (17) _______________ (to propose) fresh cuts. Steve Webb, Liberal Democrat spokesman on poverty said: “The government (18) __________ (modal verb) (19) _______________ (to publish) these figures and (20) _______________ (to do) something about it.”

(From ‘The Guardian’, abridged)

Role play. This year winter in Great Britain is exceptionally cold. However, according to law British pensioners get extra benefits from social security funds only if Britain has subzero temperatures for over 10 days running. This isn’t happening: it is –5ºC for 5 or 6 days, then it is +4ºC, then it goes down to –10ºC. Now a debate is going on in Parliament on the problem of granting extra benefits to the poor in spite of the provisions of the law. (It is vitally important since 7 people have died of cold this week.) A public rally is being held outside Parliament in support of the poor.

Role 1. You are Mike Parsons, a Guardian reporter who saw the Whitehall report mentioned in the article given above. Inform the participants of the rally about the state of affairs with the government’s warm front programme.

Role 2. You are Steve Webb, Liberal Democrat spokesman. Say what the government must (has to, is to) do or was to do (to have done) to help the poor.

Role 3. You are Mary Goodwin, a pensioner. Your neighbour died of cold 3 days ago and you are still quite distressed. Speak about the position of the poor and say what must be done to prevent unnecessary deaths.